FUEL- COAL

Coal is created as the result of a natural chemical process in which vegetation is transformed by time, pressure and temperature. The time involved is very long to accommodate the organic chemical reaction which proceeds at a slow rate. Pressure is also important because coal of high rank is generally found in regions that have been under high pressure. The temperature at which the reaction takes place need not be high, for time brings about a relatively great change even at the low temperatures prevailing in the earth's crust. There is no satisfactory definition of coal. It is a mixture of organic chemical and mineral materials the organic chemical materials produce heat when burned and the mineral matter remains. An analysis, known as the 'proximate analysis', is used to rank coal and it determines four constituents in the coal: 1. water, called moisture; 2. mineral impurity, called ash, left when the coal is completely burned; 3. volatile matter, consisting of gases driven out when coal is heated to certain temperatures; 4. fixed carbon, the coke-like residue that burns at higher temperatures after volatile matter has been driven off. Coals are grouped according to rank and are known as anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous and lignite. The coal rank increases as the amount of fixed carbon in the coal increases and ranges from anthracite (highest rank) to lignite (lowest rank). Anthracite Hard and very brittle, anthracite is dense and shiny black. It has a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter. The amount of volatile matter in the coal influences the ease with which the coal can be burnt, with coals with a high amount of volatile matter being the easiest. This means that anthracite is difficult to burn and special consideration must be made in the design of the combustion system to ensure that stable combustion is achieved. Bituminous By far the largest group, bituminous coals derive their name from the fact that on being heated they are often reduced to a cohesive, binding, sticky mass. Their carbon content is less than that that of anthracites, but they have more volatile matter and burn easily. Subbituminous These coals have high moisture content, as much as 15 to 30 percent, and are free-burning. Lignite Lignites are brown and of a laminar structure in which the remnants of woody fibres may be quite apparent. They have high volatile content and are free burning but they have high moisture content (up to 65%) and low heating value so they are not economical to transport long distances. It is very important that the properties of the coal and ash are well known when designing a coal fired power station since they can strongly influence the capital cost and availability of the plant. In particular, coal properties influence the coal handling and boiler plants while ash properties influence the boiler, ash and dust handling and flue gas cleaning plants. Extensive testing of the coal and ash is required prior to the design of a plant for a new coal field. This consists of laboratory and perhaps small scale tests but usually not full scale due to the expense. The design of a plant for a new coal field is a difficult exercise since much of the design is reliant on empirical data from past experience on other similar coals. Sometimes this results in an inappropriate design due to an unusual coal/ash property which is not discovered until the plant is operational. Plant modifications (if feasible) are then required which usually require an extensive plant outage resulting in lost revenue as well as capital expense.

Use of Coal in Electricity Generation The major use of coal in electricity generation is as a fuel burnt in the furnace of a large steam generator. The high pressure and temperature steam is then supplied to a turbo-generator which produces the electricity. The overall process is simple but there is a large amount of associated plant and equipment used to optimise the cycle efficiency and minimise environmental pollution. The high usage of coal for electricity generation reflects the ready availability of low cost coal which has enabled Australia to be one of the lowest cost producers of electricity in the world. A more thermally efficient way to use coal is in an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant. This is new technology and is not yet commercial, with only a few demonstration plants in the world. In an IGCC plant, coal is gasified and the gas burnt in combined cycle gas turbines. The coal may be gasified in a chemical reactor vessel that is integrated with the gas turbine plant. However, recent pulverised coal plants have been designed to operate at very high steam pressure and temperature with a much improved efficiency approaching that of IGCC without the complexity. Another method of coal gasification is to partially combust it while the coal is still underground. This is known as Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) and is an idea which has been around for over 100 years but has not been adopted commercially in any Western economy. It has been used for about 40 years in Uzbekistan where the gas was burnt in a conventional steam generator. The idea has been researched and trialed in many countries with the latest trials being conducted in Australia by CS Energy and Linc Energy. The proposal is to produce a low cost gas which is burnt in a combined cycle gas turbine. The idea has some inherent practical difficulties concerning the monitoring of a partial combustion process underground together with the possibility of pollution of underground aquifers by the products of combustion. Reference Web http://www.energy.qld.gov.au/electricity/infosite/index.htm Site :