Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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. [2] Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian ...
The History of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production.
Coal tar and coal tar sludges are frequently denser than water and are present in the environment as a dense non-aqueous phase liquid. In the UK, a number of former gasworks sites have been redeveloped for residential and other uses (including the Millennium Dome), being seen as prime developable land within the confines of city boundaries.
The introduction of new technologies, such as mechanized equipment and explosives, made mining faster and more efficient. However, it also made the job even more dangerous. Coal mining disasters, such as the Harlan County mining disaster of 1976, were not uncommon and resulted in numerous fatalities.
This amount of coal could cause major problems, because coal was liable to spontaneous combustion when in large piles, especially if they were rained upon, due to the protective dust coating of the coal being washed off, exposing the full porous surface area of the coal of slightly to highly activated carbon below; in a heavy pile with poor ...
The gasification of coal created a tar-like material, which traveled through wastewater under Bramlett Road to be discharged into the flood plain across the street. In 1939, Duke Energy acquired ...
Bituminous coal is formed from sub-bituminous coal that is buried deeply enough to be heated to 85 °C (185 °F) or higher. Bituminous coal is used primarily for electrical power generation [1] and in the steel industry. Bituminous coal suitable for smelting iron (coking coal or metallurgical coal) must be low in sulfur and phosphorus. It ...