How Electricity Is Produced By Using Coal

Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the talk surrounding nuclear energy, hydropower and biofuels, you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out. On the other hand, coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution - it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful . Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean. Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal - 92 percent of the U.S. supply - goes into power production .Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity. When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle. Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and

In the United States, 42 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated by burning coal as coal is cheap and plentiful.

When I go to my home where I grew up it is all electrical produced and the main producer of that electricity is from coal a fossil fuel. In that area coal is one of the primary exports of that area. (Administration,

As we go throughout life, we use various kinds of energy sources for our needs. Whether it be from solar energy to wind energy, there is a multitude of sources that allow us to do the things we do each and every day. Throughout the world, however, coal and nuclear power have risen to the

Nowadays, coal is still one of the greatest used energy to generate power in so many countries. Using coal in electricity generation is 93% in South African, 87% in Poland, 79% in China, 78% in Australia, 45% in USA, 41% in Germany, 58% in Israel etc. (Coal & Electricity) From the data above, even the developed countries use coal to generate power as the main source. In many developed countries, energy generation is still based on coal as a long-term source. In recent years, although there is an increasing number of equipment using gas and wind to generate the power, it is still lower than the proportion of coal-fired power generation. The reason why most countries choose coal as a main source to generate electricity, is that there are many advantages in using coal to generate electricity. First of all, coal is the

The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our

Coal power is the cheapest fuel to power the ever growing population with Australian mining industry still putting in billions of dollars into a vast amount of coal projects never the less coal power is a fossil fuel, a fuel which takes hundreds of year to form so the future of coal is undetermined. Coal is a reliable power source but one of the many concern with coal is the mining process used to remove it from the ground. Ecological effects are developing worries for the industry, with the carbon emissions possibly contributing to global warming.

Coal has been around for 250 million years, but only has been used since the 1800’s first by trains and now for energy all around the world and many other things that people couldn't think of! Coal is a combustible sedimentary organic rock which is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is formed from vegetation which has been consolidated between two other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal seams. There are over 174,000 jobs in the U.S associated with coal and 83,000 of them are mining jobs, Coal miners have found many ways to extract coal from the ground which includes, surface mining, longwall mining, room and pillar mining, and underground mining. “Surface

“Power plants use flue gas desulfurization equipment, also known as scrubbers, to clean sulfur from the smoke before it leaves their smokestacks. In addition, industry and the U.S. government have cooperated to develop technologies that can remove impurities from coal or that can make coal more energy-efficient so less needs to be burned.” (Coal).

Coal’s reputation has become as black as coal itself, but without it the quality of life that hundreds of millions of people enjoy today would not be possible. Coal has been used in many ways throughout history and it will continue to be a vital resource in supplying the energy needed to fuel an energy hungry world. Research cited throughout this paper suggests that coal is an energy source for the future because it is stable and reliable with abundant reserves, it is the most affordable and efficient fuel source used to produce power, and because of new clean coal technologies, coal can be burned with minimal to no damage to the environment.

Huntley Colliery has a modern dense medium cyclone and froth flotation type washery to prepare the saleable coal. It is capable of separating the different quality coal products from high grade coking coal and the various grades of steaming coal. Throughput of this plant is rated at 400 tonnes per hour and has worked at an average of one million tonnes per annum on a two shift operation setting.

The coal is transported from the mines in many ways like by truck, train or barge to be used for the production of power and by the steel and coke industries. The power plants burn the coal which also pollutes the air and the rivers around them. 1 The steam plant that is located on the Mulberry Fork, the Locust fork steam plant, and the Greene County Plant that is located on the lower Black Warrior River need to have their pollution controls updated because they are so old.

In 1980, Australia produced 100 units of electricity, and half of it is from coal while just 10 units of electricity were generated by oil. Notably, no energy was sourced from nuclear power. When it comes to France, its total electricity production in 1980 was 90 units. The most units of electricity were produced by coal and natural gas both with 25 units in 1980. However, just 5 units of electricity

Today, many people are talking about energy production and all the new and old ways to go about it. There are many different modes of energy production that is available or is becoming available to us in the future. The constant debate about what energy production is best for the environment and which is not. In my essay, I will be describing the advantages and disadvantages of coal, oil, and Solar energy.

After the coal has been removed form the earth, it is still not ready for use; it must first be refined. Coal must first be separated form foreign materials, for example other minerals, to be considered useful to us. One way of doing this is called coal washing. The coal is first crushed into smaller pieces, and then a liquid is used to separate the coal based on density. Coal that is higher in density harbors more ash, so is left behind, whereas low-density coal has contains little ash and is more desirable. Another process to separate coal from foreign materials is call dry-shaling, which works without the use of liquid. After being separated, coal can be processed into coke, and eventually steel. When coal is transported, it can be by means of truck, train, or ship, and can go nearly anywhere. Truck and train transportation are the cheapest forms, particularly train if you are shipping a great amount, and ships are used for overseas transport.