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99-462: The route was once an important link for providing coal to power the Washington, D.C. area. However, facing increased competition from other modes of transportation such as trucks and automobiles, service on the rail line was cut back and eventually abandoned after 67 years of declining use. The idea for the railroad originated from C&O president George Stevens. The Commonwealth of Virginia issued

198-512: A cyclothem . Cyclothems are thought to have their origin in glacial cycles that produced fluctuations in sea level , which alternately exposed and then flooded large areas of continental shelf. The woody tissue of plants is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Modern peat is mostly lignin, with a content of cellulose and hemicellulose ranging from 5% to 40%. Various other organic compounds, such as waxes and nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, are also present. Lignin has

297-517: A head-on collision on the Virginia Air Line Railway. Trains traveling in opposite directions were given a "meet order" to use a passing loop at Rockaway . However, a "meet" had not been coordinated on the line in 20 years. The northbound locomotive was having problems maintaining pressure for the uphill journey and collided with a coal train south of Palmyra . No passengers were on either train. Northbound railroad engineer Bill Ganzert

396-516: A rail trail . The pathway was cleared and publicly opened in 2004. In 2005, the foundation undertook restoration work to open a museum at the trailhead, as well as designing a replacement bridge at the Rivanna River in Palmyra, to provide access to views of the area. Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock , formed as rock strata called coal seams . Coal

495-417: A "unit train" may be 2 km long, containing 130-140 cars with around 100 tonnes of coal in each one, for a total load of over 10,000 tonnes. A large plant under full load requires at least one coal delivery this size every day. Plants may get as many as three to five trains a day, especially in "peak season" during the hottest summer or coldest winter months (depending on local climate) when power consumption

594-553: A charter to the Virginia Air Line Railway Company on April 10, 1906. Construction began in October 1906, under chief engineer Walter Washabaugh of Charlottesville, Virginia . Designed as an air-line railroad , the slope of grades were limited to 1 percent and the curvature of tracks were limited to six degrees. By 1907, 17 miles (27 km) of the approximately 30 miles (48 km) of planned track had been laid from

693-524: A full-service agency for the rail line was built in the town of Clarkland, newly renamed Troy after Virginia Air Line Railway company president "Captain" T. O. Troy. Completed in October 1908, this branch route was built to handle cargo that would have otherwise been too tall or wide to fit through the tunnels that crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro . Coal destined for Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia

792-417: A process called carbonization . Carbonization proceeds primarily by dehydration , decarboxylation , and demethanation. Dehydration removes water molecules from the maturing coal via reactions such as Decarboxylation removes carbon dioxide from the maturing coal: while demethanation proceeds by reaction such as In these formulas, R represents the remainder of a cellulose or lignin molecule to which

891-528: A substantial reduction in coal-related activities. Studies, including finance-based accounting of coal emissions, have revealed a misalignment of coal financing with climate objectives. Major nations, such as China, Japan, and the U.S., have extended financial support to overseas coal power infrastructure. The largest backers are Chinese banks under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This support has led to significant long-term climate and financial risks and harms

990-527: A switch in fuels happened in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Historian Ruth Goodman has traced the socioeconomic effects of that switch and its later spread throughout Britain and suggested that its importance in shaping the industrial adoption of coal has been previously underappreciated. The development of the Industrial Revolution led to the large-scale use of coal, as

1089-549: A tenth. Indonesia and Australia export the most, followed by Russia . The word originally took the form col in Old English , from reconstructed Proto-Germanic * kula ( n ), from Proto-Indo-European root * g ( e ) u-lo- "live coal". Germanic cognates include the Old Frisian kole , Middle Dutch cole , Dutch kool , Old High German chol , German Kohle and Old Norse kol . Irish gual

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1188-481: A thermal power station burning other fuel types, coal specific fuel processing and ash disposal is required. For units over about 200  MW capacity, redundancy of key components is provided by installing duplicates of the forced and induced draft fans, air preheaters, and fly ash collectors. On some units of about 60 MW, two boilers per unit may instead be provided. The hundred largest coal power stations range in size from 3,000 MW to 6,700 MW. Coal

1287-428: A type of thermal power station , a coal-fired power station converts chemical energy stored in coal successively into thermal energy , mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy . The coal is usually pulverized and then burned in a pulverized coal-fired boiler . The heat from the burning pulverized coal converts boiler water to steam , which is then used to spin turbines that turn generators . Compared to

1386-403: A weight basis. This composition reflects partly the composition of the precursor plants. The second main fraction of coal is ash, an undesirable, noncombustable mixture of inorganic minerals. The composition of ash is often discussed in terms of oxides obtained after combustion in air: Of particular interest is the sulfur content of coal, which can vary from less than 1% to as much as 4%. Most of

1485-406: A weight composition of about 54% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 30% oxygen, while cellulose has a weight composition of about 44% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 49% oxygen. Bituminous coal has a composition of about 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on a weight basis. The low oxygen content of coal shows that coalification removed most of the oxygen and much of the hydrogen

1584-413: Is a coal power generation technology that uses a high pressure gasifier to turn coal (or other carbon based fuels) into pressurized gas—synthesis gas ( syngas ). Converting the coal to gas enables the use of a combined cycle generator , typically achieving high efficiency. The IGCC process can also enable removal of some pollutants from the syngas prior to the power generation cycle. However, the technology

1683-408: Is a growing call for stricter policies regarding overseas coal financing. Countries, including Japan and the U.S., have faced criticism for permitting the financing of certain coal projects. Strengthening the policies, potentially by banning public financing of coal projects entirely, would enhance their climate efforts and credibility. In addition, Enhanced transparency in disclosing financing details

1782-625: Is also a cognate via the Indo-European root. The conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called coalification . At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying areas. In these wetlands, the process of coalification began when dead plant matter was protected from oxidation , usually by mud or acidic water, and was converted into peat . The resulting peat bogs , which trapped immense amounts of carbon, were eventually deeply buried by sediments. Then, over millions of years,

1881-402: Is among the few coal-dependent fast developing countries that fully pledged to phase out unbated coal power by the 2040s or as soon as possible thereafter. Ammonia has a high hydrogen density and is easy to handle. It can be used as storing carbon-free fuel in gas turbine power generation and help significantly reduce CO₂ emissions as a fuel. In Japan, the first major four-year test project

1980-429: Is burned in a turbine). Hot exhaust gases from the turbine are used to raise steam in a heat recovery steam generator which powers a supplemental steam turbine . The overall plant efficiency when used to provide combined heat and power can reach as much as 94%. IGCC power plants emit less local pollution than conventional pulverized coal-fueled plants. Other ways to use coal are as coal-water slurry fuel (CWS), which

2079-456: Is captured and removed from the flue gas by electrostatic precipitators or fabric bag filters (or sometimes both) located at the outlet of the furnace and before the induced draft fan. The fly ash is periodically removed from the collection hoppers below the precipitators or bag filters. Generally, the fly ash is pneumatically transported to storage silos and stored on site in ash ponds , or transported by trucks or railroad cars to landfills . At

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2178-753: Is converted successively into thermal energy , mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy . Coal-fired power stations emit about 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, about one fifth of world greenhouse gas emissions , so are the single largest cause of climate change . More than half of all the coal-fired electricity in the world is generated in China. In 2020 the total number of plants started falling as they are being retired in Europe and America although still being built in Asia, almost all in China. Some remain profitable because costs to other people due to

2277-427: Is costly compared with conventional coal-fired power stations. As coal is mainly carbon , coal-fired power stations have a high carbon intensity . On average, coal power stations emit far more greenhouse gas per unit electricity generated compared with other energy sources (see also life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of energy sources ). In 2018 coal burnt to generate electricity emitted over 10 Gt CO 2 of

2376-916: Is crucial for evaluating their environmental impacts. In India capacity factors are below 60%. In 2020 coal-fired power stations in the United States had an overall capacity factor of 40%; that is, they operated at a little less than half of their cumulative nameplate capacity. If global warming is limited to well below 2 °C as specified in the Paris Agreement , coal plant stranded assets of over US$ 500 billion are forecast by 2050, mostly in China. In 2020 think tank Carbon Tracker estimated that 39% of coal-fired plants were already more expensive than new renewables and storage and that 73% would be by 2025. As of 2020 about half of China's coal power companies are losing money and old and small power plants "have no hope of making profits". As of 2021 India

2475-594: Is entirely vertical; however, metamorphism may cause lateral changes of rank, irrespective of depth. For example, some of the coal seams of the Madrid, New Mexico coal field were partially converted to anthracite by contact metamorphism from an igneous sill while the remainder of the seams remained as bituminous coal. The earliest recognized use is from the Shenyang area of China where by 4000 BC Neolithic inhabitants had begun carving ornaments from black lignite. Coal from

2574-399: Is high. Modern unloaders use rotary dump devices, which eliminate problems with coal freezing in bottom dump cars. The unloader includes a train positioner arm that pulls the entire train to position each car over a coal hopper. The dumper clamps an individual car against a platform that swivels the car upside down to dump the coal. Swiveling couplers enable the entire operation to occur while

2673-455: Is made when metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal ) is baked in an oven without oxygen at temperatures as high as 1,000 °C, driving off the volatile constituents and fusing together the fixed carbon and residual ash. Metallurgical coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace . The carbon monoxide produced by its combustion reduces hematite (an iron oxide ) to iron. Pig iron , which

2772-409: Is more abundant, and anthracite. The % carbon in coal follows the order anthracite > bituminous > lignite > brown coal. The fuel value of coal varies in the same order. Some anthracite deposits contain pure carbon in the form of graphite . For bituminous coal, the elemental composition on a dry, ash-free basis of 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on

2871-432: Is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . Coal is a type of fossil fuel , formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during

2970-949: Is often due to burning low quality coal, such as lignite , in plants lacking modern flue gas treatment. Early deaths due to air pollution have been estimated at 200 per GW-year, however they may be higher around power plants where scrubbers are not used or lower if they are far from cities. Evidence indicates that exposure to sulfur, sulfates, or PM 2.5 from coal emissions may be associated with higher relative morbidity or mortality risk than that to other PM 2.5 constituents or PM 2.5 from other sources per unit concentration. Pollutants such as heavy metals leaching into ground water from unlined coal ash storage ponds or landfills pollute water, possibly for decades or centuries. Pollutant discharges from ash ponds to rivers (or other surface water bodies) typically include arsenic , lead, mercury , selenium , chromium , and cadmium . Mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants can fall back onto

3069-476: Is prepared for use by crushing the rough coal to pieces less than 5 cm (2 in) in size. The coal is then transported from the storage yard to in-plant storage silos by conveyor belts at rates up to 4,000 tonnes per hour. In plants that burn pulverized coal, silos feed coal to pulverizers (coal mills) that take the larger 5 cm pieces, grind them to the consistency of talcum powder , sort them, and mix them with primary combustion air, which transports

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3168-419: Is too rich in dissolved carbon, is also produced. Coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity . Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate about a third of the world's electricity , but cause many illnesses and

3267-452: Is used as fuel. 27.6% of world energy was supplied by coal in 2017 and Asia used almost three-quarters of it. Other large-scale applications also exist. The energy density of coal is roughly 24 megajoules per kilogram (approximately 6.7 kilowatt-hours per kg). For a coal power plant with a 40% efficiency, it takes an estimated 325 kg (717 lb) of coal to power a 100 W lightbulb for one year. In 2022, 68% of global coal use

3366-691: The Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC), where it formed part of funeral pyres . In Roman Britain , with the exception of two modern fields, "the Romans were exploiting coals in all the major coalfields in England and Wales by the end of the second century AD". Evidence of trade in coal, dated to about AD 200, has been found at the Roman settlement at Heronbridge , near Chester ; and in the Fenlands of East Anglia , where coal from

3465-512: The Fushun mine in northeastern China was used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BC. Marco Polo , the Italian who traveled to China in the 13th century, described coal as "black stones ... which burn like logs", and said coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week. In Europe, the earliest reference to the use of coal as fuel is from the geological treatise On Stones (Lap. 16) by

3564-676: The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulation, by effluent guidelines for water pollution , and by solid waste regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Coal-fired power stations continue to pollute in lightly regulated countries; such as the Western Balkans , India, Russia and South Africa; causing over a hundred thousand early deaths each year. Damage to health from particulates , sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide occurs mainly in Asia and

3663-590: The Midlands was transported via the Car Dyke for use in drying grain. Coal cinders have been found in the hearths of villas and Roman forts , particularly in Northumberland , dated to around AD 400. In the west of England, contemporary writers described the wonder of a permanent brazier of coal on the altar of Minerva at Aquae Sulis (modern day Bath ), although in fact easily accessible surface coal from what became

3762-702: The Somerset coalfield was in common use in quite lowly dwellings locally. Evidence of coal's use for iron -working in the city during the Roman period has been found. In Eschweiler , Rhineland , deposits of bituminous coal were used by the Romans for the smelting of iron ore . No evidence exists of coal being of great importance in Britain before about AD 1000, the High Middle Ages . Coal came to be referred to as "seacoal" in

3861-491: The coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event , where coal is rare. Favorable geography alone does not explain the extensive Carboniferous coal beds. Other factors contributing to rapid coal deposition were high oxygen levels, above 30%, that promoted intense wildfires and formation of charcoal that was all but indigestible by decomposing organisms; high carbon dioxide levels that promoted plant growth; and

3960-517: The health and environmental impact of the coal industry are not priced into the cost of generation, but there is the risk newer plants may become stranded assets . The UN Secretary General has said that OECD countries should stop generating electricity from coal by 2030, and the rest of the world by 2040. The first coal-fired power stations were built in the late 19th century and used reciprocating engines to generate direct current . Steam turbines allowed much larger plants to be built in

4059-444: The steam engine took over from the water wheel . In 1700, five-sixths of the world's coal was mined in Britain. Britain would have run out of suitable sites for watermills by the 1830s if coal had not been available as a source of energy. In 1947 there were some 750,000 miners in Britain, but the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in 2015. A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite

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4158-407: The 13th century; the wharf where the material arrived in London was known as Seacoal Lane, so identified in a charter of King Henry III granted in 1253. Initially, the name was given because much coal was found on the shore, having fallen from the exposed coal seams on cliffs above or washed out of underwater coal outcrops, but by the time of Henry VIII , it was understood to derive from the way it

4257-568: The 34 Gt total from fuel combustion (the overall total greenhouse gas emissions for 2018 was 55 Gt CO 2 e ). From 2015 to 2020, although coal generation hardly fell in absolute terms, some of its market share was taken by wind and solar. In 2020 only China increased coal power generation, and globally it fell by 4%. However, in 2021, China declared that it limited coal generation until 2025 and subsequently phase it out over time. The UN Secretary General has said that OECD countries should stop generating electricity from coal by 2030 and

4356-578: The Carboniferous, and suggested that climatic and tectonic factors were a more plausible explanation, reconstruction of ancestral enzymes by phylogenetic analysis corroborated a hypothesis that lignin degrading enzymes appeared in fungi approximately 200 MYa. One likely tectonic factor was the Central Pangean Mountains , an enormous range running along the equator that reached its greatest elevation near this time. Climate modeling suggests that

4455-587: The Central Pangean Mountains contributed to the deposition of vast quantities of coal in the late Carboniferous. The mountains created an area of year-round heavy precipitation, with no dry season typical of a monsoon climate. This is necessary for the preservation of peat in coal swamps. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants. This coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae. Sometimes coal seams (also known as coal beds) are interbedded with other sediments in

4554-634: The Global Coal to Clean Power pledge. However, intricate challenges remain, particularly in developing countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam. There are 4 main types of coal-fired power station in increasing order of efficiency are: subcritical, supercritical , ultra-supercritical and cogeneration (also called combined heat and power or CHP). Subcritical is the least efficient type, however recent innovations have allowed retrofits to older subcritical plants to meet or even exceed efficiency of supercritical plants. Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC)

4653-563: The Greek scientist Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC): Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as anthrakes [coals] are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal [anthrakes]. They are found in Liguria ;... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals. Outcrop coal was used in Britain during

4752-493: The U.S. alone, such particulates, known as PM 2.5 (particulates with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less), caused at least 460,000 excess deaths over two decades. In some countries pollution is somewhat controlled by best available techniques , for example those in the EU through its Industrial Emissions Directive . In the United States, coal-fired plants are governed at the national level by several air pollution regulations, including

4851-529: The bottom of the furnace, there is a hopper for collection of bottom ash . This hopper is kept filled with water to quench the ash and clinkers falling down from the furnace. Arrangements are included to crush the clinkers and convey the crushed clinkers and bottom ash to on-site ash ponds, or off-site to landfills. Ash extractors are used to discharge ash from municipal solid waste–fired boilers. A well-designed energy policy , energy law and electricity market are critical for flexibility. Although technically

4950-421: The cars are still coupled together. Unloading a unit train takes about three hours. Shorter trains may use railcars with an "air-dump", which relies on air pressure from the engine plus a "hot shoe" on each car. This "hot shoe" when it comes into contact with a "hot rail" at the unloading trestle, shoots an electric charge through the air dump apparatus and causes the doors on the bottom of the car to open, dumping

5049-641: The coal on a traveling grate or the cyclone burners, a specific kind of combustor that can efficiently burn larger pieces of fuel. Plants designed for lignite (brown coal) are used in locations as varied as Germany, Victoria, Australia , and North Dakota . Lignite is a much younger form of coal than black coal. It has a lower energy density than black coal and requires a much larger furnace for equivalent heat output. Such coals may contain up to 70% water and ash , yielding lower furnace temperatures and requiring larger induced-draft fans. The firing systems also differ from black coal and typically draw hot gas from

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5148-469: The coal through the opening in the trestle. Unloading one of these trains takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Older unloaders may still use manually operated bottom-dump rail cars and a "shaker" attached to dump the coal. A collier (cargo ship carrying coal) may hold 41,000 tonnes (40,000 long tons) of coal and takes several days to unload. Some colliers carry their own conveying equipment to unload their own bunkers; others depend on equipment at

5247-406: The coal to the boiler furnace and preheats the coal in order to drive off excess moisture content. A 500 MW e plant may have six such pulverizers, five of which can supply coal to the furnace at 250 tonnes per hour under full load. In plants that do not burn pulverized coal, the larger 5 cm pieces may be directly fed into the silos which then feed either mechanical distributors that drop

5346-543: The collapse of fish and invertebrate populations. As of 2018 local pollution in China, which has by far the most coal-fired power stations, is forecast to be reduced further in the 2020s and 2030s, especially if small and low efficiency plants are retired early. Coal power plants tend to serve as base load technology, as they have high availability factors, and are relatively difficult and expensive to ramp up and down. As such, they perform poorly in real-time energy markets , where they are unable to respond to changes in

5445-623: The company directly in July 1909, and acquired it outright in July 1912. Stevens stepped down as the president of C&O in 1920. During the 1950s, young Ethel Mae Robinson, whose family members worked for C&O, became a regular sight along the route. Robinson, who lived near the tracks, waved so consistently at passing trains that the crew became accustomed to seeing her and brought her gifts until her teenage years. She later married William DeLong, who also worked for C&O. On July 31, 1942, four rail employees were killed when two trains were involved in

5544-550: The conductor had discussed the circumstances ahead of time with the passengers and did not compel Butler to leave the train. By June 1954, all remaining mixed train service had come to an end. On October 26, 1971, the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors sued C&O to keep the railway in operation. However, the Interstate Commerce Commission permitted C&O to proceed with plans to close the line. On August 1, 1973,

5643-502: The connection through the Virginia Air Line Railway for coal shipments. The railway's practice of mixing passengers and cargo amid declining traffic resulted in a $ 500 personal injury suit. 65-year-old farmer S. O. Butler claimed that he was injured on June 10, 1939, while disembarking from a moving train which had slowed down at Palmyra, rather than coming to a complete stop, because of its heavy load. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in favor of parent company C&O on June 8, 1942, as

5742-446: The early 20th century and alternating current was used to serve wider areas. Coal is delivered by highway truck, rail , barge , collier ship or coal slurry pipeline . Generating stations are sometimes built next to a mine; especially one mining coal, such as lignite , which is not valuable enough to transport long-distance; so may receive coal by conveyor belt or massive diesel-electric -drive trucks . A large coal train called

5841-571: The environment , causing premature death and illness, and it is the largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide contributing to climate change . Fourteen billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted by burning coal in 2020, which is 40% of total fossil fuel emissions and over 25% of total global greenhouse gas emissions . As part of worldwide energy transition , many countries have reduced or eliminated their use of coal power . The United Nations Secretary General asked governments to stop building new coal plants by 2020. Global coal use

5940-430: The evolution of the first trees . But bacteria and fungi did not immediately evolve the ability to decompose lignin, so the wood did not fully decay but became buried under sediment, eventually turning into coal. About 300 million years ago, mushrooms and other fungi developed this ability, ending the main coal-formation period of earth's history. Although some authors pointed at some evidence of lignin degradation during

6039-512: The factors involved in coalification, temperature is much more important than either pressure or time of burial. Subbituminous coal can form at temperatures as low as 35 to 80 °C (95 to 176 °F) while anthracite requires a temperature of at least 180 to 245 °C (356 to 473 °F). Although coal is known from most geologic periods , 90% of all coal beds were deposited in the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Paradoxically, this

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6138-651: The final train made its round trip on the route. After a one-year delay by the Environmental Protection Agency , the Virginia Air Line was officially abandoned on November 3, 1975. The remaining tracks were removed by August 25, 1978. On September 2, 1987, C&O itself was merged into CSX Transportation . In 2003, the Fluvanna Heritage Trail Foundation acquired the right-of-way of the old Virginia Air Line for adaptive re-use as

6237-402: The flexibility of some coal-fired power stations could be improved they are less able to provide dispatchable generation than most gas-fired power plants . The most important flexibility is low minimum load; however, some flexibility improvements may be more expensive than renewable energy with batteries . As of 2020 two-thirds of coal burned is to generate electricity. In 2020 coal was

6336-498: The form of iron pyrite (FeS 2 ). Being a dense mineral, it can be removed from coal by mechanical means, e.g. by froth flotation . Some sulfate occurs in coal, especially weathered samples. It is not volatilized and can be removed by washing. Minor components include: As minerals, Hg, As, and Se are not problematic to the environment, especially since they are only trace components. They become however mobile (volatile or water-soluble) when these minerals are combusted. Most coal

6435-445: The furnace-exit level and mix it with the incoming coal in fan-type mills that inject the pulverized coal and hot gas mixture into the boiler. The ash is often stored in ash ponds . Although the use of ash ponds in combination with air pollution controls (such as wet scrubbers ) decreases the amount of airborne pollutants, the structures pose serious health risks for the surrounding environment. Power utility companies have often built

6534-407: The global energy landscape and its environmental and climate impacts have made it a subject of concern. The misalignment of coal financing with international climate objectives, particularly the Paris Agreement , has garnered attention. The Paris Agreement aims to restrict global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Achieving these goals necessitates

6633-475: The heat and pressure of deep burial caused the loss of water, methane and carbon dioxide and increased the proportion of carbon. The grade of coal produced depended on the maximum pressure and temperature reached, with lignite (also called "brown coal") produced under relatively mild conditions, and sub-bituminous coal , bituminous coal , or anthracite coal (also called "hard coal" or "black coal") produced in turn with increasing temperature and pressure. Of

6732-431: The increasing tendency of the anthracite to break with a conchoidal fracture , similar to the way thick glass breaks. As geological processes apply pressure to dead biotic material over time, under suitable conditions, its metamorphic grade or rank increases successively into: There are several international standards for coal. The classification of coal is generally based on the content of volatiles . However

6831-724: The initial junction of Lindsay to the Fluvanna County seat of Palmyra . Six bridges were built on the railway: four under contract with the American Bridge Company, and one each by the Phoenix Bridge Company and the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company . A quarry was opened in Carysbrook to mine granite for bridge construction. The project was budgeted at $ 900,000 at a cost of about $ 30,000 per mile. Around May 1908,

6930-402: The land and water in rain, and then be converted into methylmercury by bacteria. Through biomagnification , this mercury can then reach dangerously high levels in fish. More than half of atmospheric mercury comes from coal-fired power plants. Coal-fired power plants also emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen . These emissions lead to acid rain , which can restructure food webs and lead to

7029-560: The largest source of electricity at 34%. Over half coal generation in 2020 was in China. About 60% of electricity in China, India and Indonesia is from coal. In 2020 worldwide 2,059 GW of coal power was operational, 50 GW was commissioned, and 25 GW started construction (most of these three in China); and 38 GW retired (mostly USA and EU). In 2023, global coal power capacity increased to 2,130 GW, driven by China adding 47.4 GW. At COP26 2021, countries have joined

7128-518: The late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian ) and Permian times. Coal is used primarily as a fuel. While coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited until the Industrial Revolution . With the invention of the steam engine , coal consumption increased. In 2020, coal supplied about a quarter of the world's primary energy and over a third of its electricity . Some iron and steel -making and other industrial processes burn coal. The extraction and burning of coal damages

7227-454: The locational marginal price. In the United States, this has been especially true in light of the advent of cheap natural gas, which can serve as a fuel in dispatchable power plants that substitute the role of baseload on the grid. In 2020 the coal industry was subsidized $ US18 billion. Coal financing is the financial support provided for coal-related projects, encompassing coal mining and coal-fired power stations. Its role in shaping

7326-453: The morphology and some properties of the original plant. In many coals, individual macerals can be identified visually. Some macerals include: In coalification huminite is replaced by vitreous (shiny) vitrinite . Maturation of bituminous coal is characterized by bitumenization , in which part of the coal is converted to bitumen , a hydrocarbon-rich gel. Maturation to anthracite is characterized by debitumenization (from demethanation) and

7425-467: The most early deaths per unit of energy produced, mainly from air pollution . World installed capacity doubled from 2000 to 2023 and increased 2% in 2023. A coal-fired power station is a type of fossil fuel power station . The coal is usually pulverized and then burned in a pulverized coal-fired boiler . The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam , which is then used to spin turbines that turn generators . Thus chemical energy stored in coal

7524-405: The most important distinction is between thermal coal (also known as steam coal), which is burnt to generate electricity via steam; and metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal), which is burnt at high temperature to make steel . Hilt's law is a geological observation that (within a small area) the deeper the coal is found, the higher its rank (or grade). It applies if the thermal gradient

7623-407: The nature of Carboniferous forests, which included lycophyte trees whose determinate growth meant that carbon was not tied up in heartwood of living trees for long periods. One theory suggested that about 360 million years ago, some plants evolved the ability to produce lignin , a complex polymer that made their cellulose stems much harder and more woody. The ability to produce lignin led to

7722-455: The number of double bonds between carbon). As carbonization proceeds, aliphatic compounds convert to aromatic compounds . Similarly, aromatic rings fuse into polyaromatic compounds (linked rings of carbon atoms). The structure increasingly resembles graphene , the structural element of graphite. Chemical changes are accompanied by physical changes, such as decrease in average pore size. The macerals are coalified plant parts that retain

7821-611: The objectives of reducing CO2 emissions set by the Paris Agreement, of which China, the United States and Japan are signatories. A substantial portion of the associated CO 2 emissions is anticipated to occur after 2019. Coal financing poses challenges to the global decarbonization of the power generation sector. As renewable energy technologies become cost-competitive, the economic viability of coal projects diminishes, making past fossil fuel investments less attractive. To address these concerns and align with climate goals, there

7920-573: The plant. For transporting coal in calmer waters, such as rivers and lakes, flat-bottomed barges are often used. Barges are usually unpowered and must be moved by tugboats or towboats . For start up or auxiliary purposes, the plant may use fuel oil as well. Fuel oil can be delivered to plants by pipeline , tanker , tank car or truck. Oil is stored in vertical cylindrical steel tanks with capacities as high as 14,000 cubic metres (90,000 bbl). The heavier no. 5 "bunker" and no. 6 fuels are typically steam-heated before pumping in cold climates. As

8019-491: The ponds without liners , especially in the United States, and therefore chemicals in the ash can leach into groundwater and surface waters. Since the 1990s, power utilities in the U.S. have designed many of their new plants with dry ash handling systems. The dry ash is disposed in landfills, which typically include liners and groundwater monitoring systems. Dry ash may also be recycled into products such as concrete, structural fills for road construction and grout. Fly ash

8118-456: The pre-combustion treatment, turbine technology (e.g. supercritical steam generator ) and the age of the plant. A few integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants have been built, which burn coal more efficiently. Instead of pulverizing the coal and burning it directly as fuel in the steam-generating boiler, the coal is gasified to create syngas , which is burned in a gas turbine to produce electricity (just like natural gas

8217-427: The reacting groups are attached. Dehydration and decarboxylation take place early in coalification, while demethanation begins only after the coal has already reached bituminous rank. The effect of decarboxylation is to reduce the percentage of oxygen, while demethanation reduces the percentage of hydrogen. Dehydration does both, and (together with demethanation) reduces the saturation of the carbon backbone (increasing

8316-441: The rest of the world by 2040, otherwise limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, a target of the Paris Agreement , would be extremely difficult. A 2024 analysis by The Economist concluded that financing phase-out would be cheaper than carbon offsets . However phasing out in Asia can be a financial challenge as plants there are relatively young: in China the co-benefits of closing a plant vary greatly depending on its location. Vietnam

8415-399: The sulfur and most of the nitrogen is incorporated into the organic fraction in the form of organosulfur compounds and organonitrogen compounds . This sulfur and nitrogen are strongly bound within the hydrocarbon matrix. These elements are released as SO 2 and NO x upon combustion. They cannot be removed, economically at least, otherwise. Some coals contain inorganic sulfur, mainly in

8514-415: The world's coal-generated electricity. Efforts around the world to reduce the use of coal have led some regions to switch to natural gas and renewable energy . In 2018 coal-fired power station capacity factor averaged 51%, that is they operated for about half their available operating hours. Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue that is used in manufacturing steel and other iron-containing products. Coke

8613-517: Was 8.3 billion tonnes in 2022, and is set to remain at record levels in 2023. To meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2 °C (3.6 °F) coal use needs to halve from 2020 to 2030, and "phasing down" coal was agreed upon in the Glasgow Climate Pact . The largest consumer and importer of coal in 2020 was China , which accounts for almost half the world's annual coal production, followed by India with about

8712-574: Was based on the trading of this commodity. Coal continues to arrive on beaches around the world from both natural erosion of exposed coal seams and windswept spills from cargo ships. Many homes in such areas gather this coal as a significant, and sometimes primary, source of home heating fuel. Coal consists mainly of a black mixture of diverse organic compounds and polymers. Of course, several kinds of coals exist, with variable dark colors and variable compositions. Young coals (brown coal, lignite) are not black. The two main black coals are bituminous, which

8811-452: Was being considered in China in 2020, but this is very expensive, reduces the energy output and for some plants is not technically feasible. Coal burning power plants kill many thousands of people every year with their emissions of particulates , microscopic air pollutants that enter human lungs and other human organs and induce a variety of adverse medical conditions, including asthma , heart disease , low birth weight and cancers . In

8910-504: Was carried to London by sea. In 1257–1259, coal from Newcastle upon Tyne was shipped to London for the smiths and lime -burners building Westminster Abbey . Seacoal Lane and Newcastle Lane, where coal was unloaded at wharves along the River Fleet , still exist. These easily accessible sources had largely become exhausted (or could not meet the growing demand) by the 13th century, when underground extraction by shaft mining or adits

9009-554: Was developed in the Soviet Union , or in an MHD topping cycle . However these are not widely used due to lack of profit. In 2017 38% of the world's electricity came from coal, the same percentage as 30 years previously. In 2018 global installed capacity was 2 TW (of which 1TW is in China) which was 30% of total electricity generation capacity. The most dependent major country is South Africa, with over 80% of its electricity generated by coal; but China alone generates more than half of

9108-408: Was developed. The alternative name was "pitcoal", because it came from mines. Cooking and home heating with coal (in addition to firewood or instead of it) has been done in various times and places throughout human history, especially in times and places where ground-surface coal was available and firewood was scarce, but a widespread reliance on coal for home hearths probably never existed until such

9207-490: Was during the Late Paleozoic icehouse , a time of global glaciation . However, the drop in global sea level accompanying the glaciation exposed continental shelves that had previously been submerged, and to these were added wide river deltas produced by increased erosion due to the drop in base level . These widespread areas of wetlands provided ideal conditions for coal formation. The rapid formation of coal ended with

9306-520: Was killed instantly and was found in the wreckage of the locomotive on the engineer's seat with his hand still on the steam pressure gauge. Brakeman Jack “J.J.” Ferrer survived burn injuries from the crash and joined a 1992 reunion of the surviving crew, organized at Bethel Baptist Church near Palmyra by retired trainmaster Frank Schumaker with the Fluvanna County Historical Society. In February 1927, dedicated passenger rail service

9405-550: Was once known as "steam coal" as it was widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives . In this specialized use, it is sometimes known as "sea coal" in the United States. Small "steam coal", also called dry small steam nuts (DSSN), was used as a fuel for domestic water heating . Coal played an important role in industry in the 19th and 20th century. The predecessor of the European Union , the European Coal and Steel Community ,

9504-589: Was reduced to one train per day in each direction, and replaced by mixed trains in June 1932. The growing adoption of automobiles and airplanes had been taking business away from railroads since the 1930s. In 1931, the Virginia Electric & Power Company (now Dominion Resources ) constructed a 30-megawatt coal-fired power station right along the path of the James River Line at Bremo Bluff, which did not require

9603-423: Was sent down the James River Line to the southern junction of the route at Strathmore Yard, near Bremo Bluff . The shipments then proceeded up the Virginia Air Line to the northern junction at Lindsay , and continued on to Gordonsville . The railway also became an important line of communication that connected the small communities along the route with larger cities, such as Washington, D.C. C&O began to operate

9702-521: Was started in June 2021 to develop technology to enable co-firing a significant amount of ammonia at a large-scale commercial coal-fired plant. However low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia is in demand for sustainable shipping , which unlike electricity generation, has few other clean options. Some power stations are being converted to burn gas, biomass or waste, and conversion to thermal storage will be trialled in 2023. Retrofitting some existing coal-fired power stations with carbon capture and storage

9801-430: Was used for electricity generation. Coal burnt in coal power stations to generate electricity is called thermal coal . It is usually pulverized and then burned in a furnace with a boiler . The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam , which is then used to spin turbines which turn generators and create electricity. The thermodynamic efficiency of this process varies between about 25% and 50% depending on

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