Metallurgical Coal
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Metallurgical Coal Building the Future 1 Metallurgical Coals What Is Coal? s racite Co inou Coal th al m An u Coal is a fossil fuel. it B It is a mineral substance formed from the Fossil Fuel (coal, remains of land-based plants buried in swamps and bogs hundreds of millions gas, oil) is a of years ago. Coal formation began hydrocarbon during the Carboniferous Period – the deposit and a first coal age – which spanned 290 natural fuel created million to 360 million years ago. The Coal is the world’s most plentiful fossil fuel and by build-up of silt and other sediments, in geological together with movements in the earth’s formations over far Canada’s most abundant fossil fuel, with over crust – tectonic movements – buried long periods of time 6.6 billion tonnes of recoverable coal reserves. swamps and bogs, often to great depths. Canada has both Metallurgical coal (anthracite and The buried plant material was subjected from the remains of to high temperatures and pressures. living organisms. bituminous) and Thermal coal (sub-bituminous and This caused physical and chemical lignite) deposits. changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into different types Coal is used mainly for two purposes, for of coal. steel making and power generation. Only the Metallurgical, or higher-ranking hard coal (metallurgical) with Ten feet of specific coking properties can be used to often referred to as prehistoric plant make steel, although in theory, all coals from Steelmaking coal has lignite to anthracite can be used as thermal debris was needed coal to generate electricity. the most intrinsic value to make one foot Formation of Coal Metallurgical coal is more scarce and and right chemical of coal. (Source DOE) valuable than thermal coal, so in practice make up and physical metallurgical coal is rarely used to generate electricity. Metallurgical coal is also common- properties to be used ly referred to as coking coal. Coking coal has in the process of physical properties that when heated cause it to soften, liquefy and then resolidify into a making steel. Time harder substance known as coke. Coal is not a homogenous commodity. In ad- The degree of change undergone by a dition to ranks, coal can be split into dozens deposit as it matures is known as coalifi- Heat and of blends and products. Coal is classified Pressure cation. This change in coal’s physical according to the degree of transformation and chemical properties is referred to as of the original plant material into carbon, the “rank” of the coal. Ranking is deter- moisture content and composition. The qual- mined by the degree of transformation ity of each coal deposit is determined by the of the original plant material to carbon. varying types of vegetation from which the Vegetation The ranks of coals, from those with Peat coal originated, depths of burial tempera- Lignite Sub-Bituminous the least carbon to those with the most (Thermal coal) Bituminous tures and pressures at those depths, and the Anthracite carbon, are lignite, sub-bituminous, (Metallurgical coal) length of time the coal has been forming in bituminous and anthracite. the deposit. 2 3 Where Coal Is Found Total world coal production reached a record level of 7,822.8Mt in 2013. Primary Coal Basins (Canada is among the top 10 metallurgical coal producers) Top Ten Metallurgical Coal Producers Total 976Mt Kazakhstan Poland 12Mt 12Mt China 527Mt Ukraine 20Mt Mongolia 20Mt Canada India 34Mt 42Mt Russia 73Mt Australia USA 158Mt Relative to other fossil fuels, coal re- 78Mt serves are relatively evenly dispersed geographically. Top Ten Thermal Coal Producers Total 7,083Mt Kazakhstan Distribution of proven coal reserves 120Mt China Poland 3,561Mt 143Mt South & Central America Europe & Eurasia Germany 1.5% 35.4% 191Mt South Africa Middle East & Africa 256Mt 3.8% Russia 347Mt Total 892 Billion Australia 459Mt Indonesia USA North America 489Mt India 904Mt 28.5% 613Mt Asia Pacific (includes Australia) 30.9% Source 2013 BP Statistical Review (www.bp.com) 4 5 Who Uses Coal? Coal has many important uses worldwide. The most significant uses of coal are in steel production, electricity generation, cement manufacturing and as a liquid fuel. Since Other important users of coal include alumina refineries, paper manufacturers, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Several chemical products can be 2000, global coal consumption has grown produced from the by-products of coal. Refined coal tar is used in the manufacture of chemicals, such as creosote oil, naphthalene, phenol and benzene. Ammonia gas faster than any other commodity. recovered from coke ovens is used to manufacture ammonia salts, nitric acid and agricultural fertilisers. Thousands of different products have coal or coal by-products Consumption by region (2013) as components: soap, aspirins, solvents, dyes, plastics and fibres, such as rayon The biggest market for coal is Asia, Asia Pacific 4,000 and nylon. which accounts for over 70% of global Africa Middle East 3,500 Coal is also an essential ingredient in the production of specialist products: coal consumption, China is responsible Europe & Eurasia for a significant part of this. Many coun- S. & Cent. America 3,000 Activated carbon – used in filters for water and air purification and in kidney dialy- tries do not have the natural resources North America sis machines. sufficient to cover their resource needs, 2,500 and therefore need to import coal to Carbon fibre – an extremely strong but light weight reinforcement material used in 2,000 help meet their requirements. Japan, construction, aircrafts, boats, bicycles and rackets. Taiwan and Korea, for example, import 1,500 significant quantities of metallurgical coal Silicon metal – used to produce silicones and silanes, which are in turn used to for steel production and thermal coal for 1,000 make lubricants, water repellents, resins, cosmetics, hair shampoos and tooth- pastes. electricity generation. 500 88 93 98 03 08 13 0 6 7 Metallurgical Coal vs Thermal Coal World Coal Trade Mt Different types of coal have different uses. 1,200 Top Coal Importers Thermal Metallurgical Metallurgical coal – also known as coking coal, is a key ingredient for the produc- Met Ther. Total tion of steel by creating the coke necessary during the reduction process of making 1,000 Lignite China 77Mt 250Mt 327Mt iron and steel. Coke is a porous, hard black rock of concentrated carbon that is created by heating bituminous coal without air to extremely high temperatures. 800 Japan 54Mt 142Mt 196Mt India 38Mt 142Mt 180Mt Thermal coal – also known as steam coal, is mainly used in power generation. It 600 is burned to generate steam which drives turbines to generate electricity for either South Korea 31Mt 95Mt 126Mt public electricity grids or industries that consume electrical power. 400 Chinese Tapei 7Mt 61Mt 68Mt Germany 8Mt 43Mt 51Mt 200 Canada is currently the 3rd largest exporter UK 6Mt 44Mt 50Mt 0 of metallurgical coal. Almost all of Canada’s 2011 2012 2013 metallurgical coal production is exported. Top Coal Exporters Met Ther. Total Australia 154Mt 182Mt 336Mt USA 60Mt 47Mt 107Mt Canada 34Mt 4Mt 37Mt Russia 22Mt 118Mt 141Mt Indonesia 3Mt 423Mt 426Mt Colombia 1Mt 73Mt 74Mt South Africa 0Mt 72Mt 72Mt 8 (ranked by Met coal exports) 9 Metallurgical Coal and Steel Without coal, there is no steel. Metallurgical coal and steel are vital components of our modern way of life and critical to economic growth. The intrinsic benefits of steel make it a sustainable Steel production is a measurement of choice in a growing number of applications. Almost everything that we use is development and economic growth. either made from, or manufactured with, steel. It is a uniquely versatile material and is widely regarded as a high performance, contemporary engineering mate- rial continuously being improved to meet new market demands. In 2014, world crude steel production was 1.7 billion tonnes, a new record for global crude steel Production of crude steel has risen from 28 million production. tonnes per year at the beginning of the last century Steelmaking Process to over 1.7 billion tonnes. Asia accounts for almost Key raw materials needed in the steel-making process include metallurgical coal, 40% of global steel production, with Europe and iron ore, limestone and recycled steel. There are two main steel production pro- cesses and their related components are: Russia producing 36% and North America 14.5%. The integrated steel-making process, based on the blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF), which uses raw materials including iron ore, metallurgi- cal coal, limestone and recycled steel. On average, this process uses 1,400 kg of iron ore, 800 kg of coal, 300 kg of limestone, and 120 kg of recycled steel to produce 1,000 kg of crude steel. The electric arc furnace (EAF) process uses primarily recycled steels and direct reduced iron (DRI) or hot metal and electricity. On average, the recycled steel-EAF process uses 880 kg of recycled steel, 160 kg of coal and 64 kg of limestone to produce 1,000 kg of crude steel. World Steel Demand M tonnes 2,400 2,300 2,200 2,100 2,000 1,900 1,800 1,700 1,600 1,500 1,400 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Year and Demand of interest... Source: Statista, 2015 Around 800 kg of met coal is 1 MW of wind turbine capacity Long term steel demand fundamentals remain needed to make 1,000 kg of requires 230 tons of met coal robust based on urbanization of developing steel for the steel requirements countries such as China and India.