Fossil Fuels

Coal Industry

Formation of Coal

Formation of Coal
The formation of coal begins in a waterlogged environment (swamps and bogs) where plant debris accumulated. In such an environment, the accumulation of plant debris exceeds the rate of bacterial decay of the debris. The bacterial decay rate is reduced because the available oxygen in organic-rich water is completely used up by the decaying process. Anaerobic (without oxygen) decay is much slower than aerobic decay.

Formation of Coal
The stages of this trend proceed from plant debris through peat, lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, to anthracite coal. Takes millions of years to convert peat to anthracite caol.

Ranks of Coal
Lignite Subbituminous
9,000 BTU/lb

Bituminous Anthracite
12,000 BTU/lb 15,000 BTU/lb

7000 BTU/lb

Formation Conditions

Time of Formation
%C

Lignite
Lignite is a relatively young coal deposit that was not subjected to extreme heat or pressure. Lowest rank of coal with the lowest energy content. Lignite is crumbly and has high moisture content.

Subbituminous
Sub bituminous coal typically contains 35-45 percent carbon, compared to 25-35 percent for lignite.
Thus is has a higher heating value than lignite.

Bituminous Coal
Bituminous coal contains 45-86 percent carbon, and has two to three times the heating value of lignite.

Anthracite
Anthracite contains 86-97 percent carbon and its heating value is slightly higher than bituminous coal. Low amount of Sulfur makes this a clean during coal.

Coal Grade
Grade is measure of the amount of contaminants (ash, sulfur and trace elements) found in the coal. Common sources of ash include wind blown dust, and volcanic ash. A low grade coal has a high ash content (>7%). Some of the ash contains trace elements which are toxic and/or radioactive.

Coal Grade
The presence of sulfur also lowers the grade of the coal.
Sulfur can end up contributing to smog and acid rain upon combustion

Coal that was formed from swamps covered by sea (salt) water contain high amount of sulfur.
Common in Eastern U.S. Coals formed during the Pennsylvanian Period

Low sulfur coal was formed from freshwater swamps.

Common in Western U.S formed during the Paleocene Epoch.

Major Players

Central Coalfields Limited Adani group Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited Coal India Limited Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limit Mahanadi Coalfields Limited Neyveli Lignite Corporation North Eastern Coalfields Northern Coalfields Limited Singareni Collieries Company Usha Martin South Eastern Coalfields Limited Tata Steel

Coal Mining
Mining methods are often dictated by the type and location of the coal deposit. Coal is mined either by underground tunneling (Underground Mining) or by removing or "stripping" the covering rocks (Surface or Strip Mining). When the deposit is more than 100 feet below the surface the underground method is used.

Coal Mining Methods

Customers: The Indian coal industry is the worlds third largest Around 70% of the total production is used for electricity generation And the remaining by the steel, cement and other heavy industries.

Coalgate Issue
Coal minister: Sripraksh Jaiswal Amount is Approximately 1067303 crore rupees Persons involved Jagathrakshan (minister of state and information) Subodh Kant Sahai (Tourism minister) Naveen Jindal(Congress MP)