The impetus for this book is twofold. First, in response to the well documented oil shocks of the 1970s there arose a resurgence of research activity in the synthetic fuels area. This book attempts to capture some of the leading edge advances which have been made over the past decade in the area of the chemistry of coal conversion. The second driving force behind this book is to jog people's memories about the fundamental truths of the energy industry, i. e. , there IS a finite amount of liquid hydrocarbons on and under the earth's surface, most of the easy to find, produce, and use liquid hydrocarbons have been exploited, and the real need continues to be for liquid hydrocarbons for use as trans portation fuels. The uncertainty is not if synthetic liquids will be needed, but rat her when they will be needed. The inability to answer that question accurately caused many of the financial and research disruptions following the double shocks of the 1970s. Since future projections can only be based upon the historical record, they cannot anticipate major disruptions such as, e. g. , discovery of huge easily producible oils fields, or, on the other side, global or regional economic disruptions such as warfare. With this level of uncertainty, then, the second impetus is to point out how much research remains to be done at a time when fiscal support for fossil fuels research in the Uni ted States is rapidly spiraling downward.

Filling the need for new and improved energy sources is an area where societal effects of science and technology will surely increase. The editors and authors have attempted in this volume to present the most current work on the science and technology of coal and coal utilization. Serious disagreement exists on several key issues such as carbon dioxide release and acid rain. At the same time, however, coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel and will have to be used to supply the world's energy needs for the next several decades. The 1979 National Research Council Report, "En ergy in Transition: 1985-2010," has estimated that the United States alone may go from a 1979 coal consumption of 14 QUADS per annum (approximately 750 million tons per year) to approximately 40-50 QUADS per annum (approximately 2 billion tons per year) by the year 2010. If this scale of coal utilization is to become a reality, a significant level of research and development will be necessary to establish advanced process technologies and to improve related areas such as materials and instrumentation. The editors hope that this volume will allow a technically educated person to become aware of the several aspects of coal utilization, from characterization of coal itself to the processes of coal utilization. B. R. Cooper and W. A. Ellingson March, 1983 vii Contents 1. THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF COAL AND COAL UTILIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bernard R. Cooper and William A. Ellingson 2. COAL CHARACTERIZATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The demand for coal use (for electricity generation) and coal products, particularly liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks, is increasing throughout the world. Traditional markets such as North America and Europe are experiencing a steady increase in demand whereas emerging Asian markets, such as India and China, are witnessing a rapid surge in dema

Three fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas supply over 80% of the global primary energy requirements and, in spite of concerns about environmental pollution, the dominance of fossil fuels in the world’s energy mix is unlikely to change very much in the foreseeable future. Coal, the highest pollutant of them all fuels over 40% of the global electric power generation and, while considerable effort is being made to diversify to less anthropogenic fuels , various projections show that there will be little change for many years. Most of the increase in power generation in the next few decades will be accounted for by emerging countries and, for many, coal is the only available or affordable source of primary energy. Also, some developed countries depend on coal for up to 90% of power generation. The contribution of cleaner energies (solar, wind, biofuels, etc.), to the global primary energy mix is not likely to exceed 10% in the next two or three decades and it is now widely accepted that the only feasible option in the foreseeable future is to ‘clean-up’ coal. For over fifty years Nigeria depended on coal for over 70% of primary energy requirements but, with the discovery of oil and gas in early 1960s the demand for coal began to decline. However, in view of perpetual and intractable problems with gas supply and the hydrodams, there has been renewed interest in the country’s vast coal resources and many coal-fired power plants are scheduled to come on stream by 2020. It is noteworthy that all the proposed plants will adopt clean coal technologies.

Provides users with everything they need to know about testing and analysis of coal Includes new coverage on environmental issues and regulations as related to coal Provides the reader with the necessary information about testing and analyzing coal and relays the advantages and limitations in understanding the quality and performance of coal Explains the meaning of test results and how these results can predict coal behavior and its corresponding environmental impact during use Includes a comprehensive Glossary which defines items in straightforward language that enable readers to better understand the terminology related to coal Treats issues related to sampling, and accuracy and precision of analysis