Its application is so multifunctional that sometimes you just wonder. At such moments, doubt involuntarily creeps in, and a completely logical question sounds in my head: “What? Is it all coal?!” Everyone is used to considering coal as just a combustible material, but, in fact, its range of applications is so wide that it seems simply incredible.

Formation and origin of coal seams

Appearance hard coal on Earth refers to distant Paleozoic era when the planet was still in the development stage and had a completely alien look to us. The formation of coal seams began about 360,000,000 years ago. This happened mainly in the bottom sediments of prehistoric reservoirs, where organic materials accumulated for millions of years.

Simply put, coal is the remains of the bodies of giant animals, tree trunks and other living organisms that have sunk to the bottom, decayed and pressed under the water column. The process of formation of deposits is quite long, and it takes at least 40,000,000 years for the formation of a coal seam.

Coal mining

People have long understood how important and indispensable, and the use of it was able to evaluate and adapt on such a scale relatively recently. Large-scale development of coal deposits began only in the XVI-XVII centuries. in England, and the extracted material was used mainly for the smelting of iron, necessary for the manufacture of cannons. But its production by today's standards was so insignificant that it cannot be called industrial.

Large-scale mining began only towards the middle of the 19th century, when the developing industrialization became indispensable for hard coal. Its use, however, at that time was limited exclusively to incineration. Hundreds of thousands of mines are now operating all over the world, producing more per day than in a few years in the 19th century.

Varieties of hard coal

Deposits of coal seams can reach a depth of several kilometers, extending into the thickness of the earth, but not always and not everywhere, because it is both in content and in appearance heterogeneous.

There are 3 main types of this fossil: anthracite, brown coal, and peat, which very remotely resembles coal.

Anthracite is the oldest formation of its kind on the planet, the average age of this species is 280,000,000 years. He is very hard, high density, and the carbon content in it is 96-98%.

The hardness and density are relatively low, as is the carbon content in it. It has an unstable, loose structure and is also oversaturated with water, the content of which in it can reach up to 20%.

Peat is also classified as a type of coal, but not yet formed, so it has nothing to do with coal.

Properties of hard coal

Now it is difficult to imagine another material more useful and practical than coal, the main properties and application of which deserve the highest praise. Thanks to the substances and compounds contained in it, it has become simply indispensable in all areas of modern life.

The coal component looks like this:

All these components make coal, the application and use of which is so multifunctional. Volatile substances contained in coal provide rapid ignition with subsequent achievement high temperatures. The moisture content simplifies the processing of coal, the calorie content makes its use indispensable in pharmaceuticals and cosmetology, the ash itself is a valuable mineral material.

The use of coal in the modern world

Various uses of minerals. Coal was originally only a source of heat, then energy (it turned water into steam), but now, in this regard, the possibilities of coal are simply unlimited.

Thermal energy from coal combustion is converted into electrical energy, coke-chemical products are made from it, and liquid fuel is extracted. Hard coal is the only rock that contains such rare metals as germanium and gallium as impurities. From it, it is extracted, which is then processed into benzene, from which coumarone resin is isolated, which is used to manufacture all kinds of paints, varnishes, linoleum and rubber. Phenols and pyridine bases are obtained from coal. During processing, coal is used in the production of vanadium, graphite, sulfur, molybdenum, zinc, lead, and many more valuable and now irreplaceable products.

Coal is important for the national economy

Coal is one of the first minerals that man began to use as a fuel. Only at the end of the 19th century, other types of fuel began to gradually replace it: first oil, then products from it, later gas (natural and obtained from coal and other substances). Coal is widely used in the national economy. First of all, as fuel and chemical raw materials. For example, the metallurgical industry in the smelting of pig iron cannot do without coke. It is produced at coke-chemical enterprises from coal.

Where else is coal used?

Powerful thermal power plants in Russia and Ukraine (and not only) operate on the waste of coal mining (anthracite sludge). The metal was first obtained using coke from iron ore in the 18th century in England. This in metallurgy was the beginning of the use of coal, more precisely, coke - a product of its processing. Prior to that, iron was obtained using charcoal, so in England in the 18th and 19th centuries almost the entire forest was cut down. The coking industry uses coal, processing it into coal coke and coke oven gas, and dozens of types of chemical products are produced (ethylene, toluene, xylenes, benzene, coking gasoline, resins, oils, and much more). Based on these chemical products, a wide variety of plastics, nitrogen and ammonia-phosphorus fertilizers, aqueous ammonia solutions (fertilizers), and plant protection chemicals are produced. Also produce detergents and washing powders, medicines for people and animals, solvents (solvents), sulfur or sulfuric acid, coumarone resins (for paints, varnishes, linoleum and rubber products), etc. Full list products of coke-chemical processing of coal occupies several pages.

How is the cost of coal?

The cost of coal is mainly determined by the method of its extraction, the distance and method of transportation to the consumer. Coal mined open way, from a depth of up to 100 m in the Kuzbass or Elginskoye deposit (Yakutia), will be much cheaper than coal from a Donbass mine (from a depth of 800 - 1500 m). Coal, which, mixed with water, is delivered to a thermal power plant through a pipeline, will be cheaper than coal delivered by a belt conveyor, and cheaper than coal brought by cars. The cost of coal is proportional to the depth of its formation. Brown coal was formed at a depth of 1 - 2 km, fuel characteristics its small, the price is also low. Coal - at a depth of 3 - 4 km, the calorific value is good, the price is average. Anthracite - hard coal highest quality, was formed at a depth of 5 - 6 km, the calorific value is excellent, the price is the highest.

Coconut charcoal - what is it?

One type of charcoal is coconut charcoal, which is made from the shells of nuts. It can be used in barbecues, grills, barbecues. It burns much longer than other charcoal, has no smell, no sulfur, and does not ignite from dripping grease. Purified coconut charcoal can be used for hookah, because when used it has neither smell nor taste. After special processing(activation) working surface each piece of coal increases several times (and it becomes an excellent adsorbent). The use of coconut charcoal in water purification filters gives excellent results.

Vladimir Khomutko

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What products are obtained from coal and oil?

Oil and coal are minerals and are actively used by mankind as energy sources.

But if coal can be used in pure form, then oil is not. It must first be processed in order to obtain products suitable for practical use. However, from coal, you can get related elements that have practical value.

Oil is a combustible oily liquid, which is a complex mixture of various hydrocarbon compounds.

Its composition contains dissolved associated gases, which, when raw materials rise to the surface, begin to be actively released. These include the well-known methane and hydrogen sulfide.

The list of processed products of this mineral is very extensive, so listing them all would take a long time. Let's try to approach this issue from the point of view of the aggregate state of the products.

Petroleum gases

These substances released from the hydrocarbon mixture raised to the surface are called associated.

They are isolated both in the process of primary processing of raw materials in the fields (separation) and in oil refineries (refineries). These products include ethane, propane and butane, from which products such as ethylene and propylene are obtained by dehydrogenation. Propane-butane is the same liquefied gas that is still used for domestic needs.

Liquid petroleum products

There is a much longer list here. From the hydrocarbon raw materials extracted at the fields, the following is produced:

• motor fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene, jet fuel); their share in the processed raw materials is from 50 to 80 percent;
• boiler and marine fuel (fuel oil);
• kerosene (including lighting);
• various types of oils (lubricating, transmission and so on);
• gas oil (raw material for the production of benzene and toluene) and so on and so forth.

Oil refining takes place under the influence of high temperatures, which, due to different points boiling oil components allow you to decompose the raw material into individual components.

The remainder of this process is tar, from which bitumen is subsequently made, which is actively used in the production of road and roofing works.

This mineral is in a solid state of aggregation. Its processing is carried out by coking in specialized furnaces, which exclude the ingress of oxygen into them. As a result of the series chemical reactions, coke is made from coal, which is in great demand at the enterprises of the metallurgical industry, and coke oven gas, which decomposes into tar and ammonia water during the condensation process.

With the use of dry distillation, tar is formed from coal, which is widely used in the construction industry and in the manufacture of various building materials as a binder.

Ammonia water gives ammonia, which is part of a large number chemical fertilizers, so necessary for the agricultural industry.

The use of coal in industry

Synthetic hydrocarbons are also obtained from coal (however, as well as from liquid hydrocarbons), which are actively used in the fuel balance. Since they cause much less harm to our environment, their use will expand in the future.

The use of coal is diverse. It is used as a domestic, energy fuel, raw material for the metallurgical and chemical industries, as well as for extracting rare and trace elements from it. Coal, coke-chemical industry, branches of heavy industry carry out the processing of coal by coking. Coking is an industrial method of coal processing by heating up to 950-1050 C without air access. The main coke-chemical products are: coke oven gas, crude benzene, coal tar, ammonia.

Hydrocarbons are recovered from coke oven gas by washing in scrubbers with liquid absorption oils. After distillation from oil, distillation from a fraction, purification and re-rectification, pure commercial products are obtained, such as: benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc. From unsaturated compounds contained in crude benzene, coumarone resins are obtained, which are used for the production of varnishes, paints, linoleum and in the rubber industry. A promising raw material is also cyclopentadiene, which is also obtained from coal. Hard coal is a raw material for the production of naphthalene and other individual aromatic hydrocarbons. The most important products of processing are pyridine bases and phenols.

Coal was the first fossil material that people used as fuel. The use of coal for energy allowed the rapid advancement of industry, and at one time coal accounted for half of the world's energy production. Coal is a sedimentary rock that was formed as a result of the natural decomposition of ancient plants. In deposits, coal occurs in the form of seams. The composition of hard coal includes a large amount of carbon and volatile substances with a small proportion of mineral impurities.

By processing a total of more than 400 various products, the cost of which, in comparison with the cost of the coal itself, increases by 20-25 times, and the by-products obtained at coke plants exceed the cost of the coke itself.

Very promising is the combustion (hydrogenation) of coal with the formation of liquid fuel. For the production of 1 ton of oil, 2-3 tons of coal are consumed. Artificial graphite is obtained from coal. They are used as inorganic raw materials. During the processing of coal from it into industrial scale extract vanadium, germanium, sulfur, gallium, molybdenum, zinc, lead. Ash from coal combustion, mining and processing wastes are used in the production of building materials, ceramics, refractory raw materials, alumina, and abrasives. With the aim of optimal use coal is enriched (removal of mineral impurities).

Coal contains up to 97% of carbon; it can be said that it underlies all hydrocarbons, i.e. they are based on carbon atoms. Often one encounters amorphous carbon in the form of coal. By structure, amorphous carbon is the same graphite, but in a state of the finest grinding. Practical use amorphous forms of carbon are varied. Coke and coal as a reducing agent in metallurgy during iron smelting.

Coal is an integral part of our life. The most diverse application in almost all sectors of the national economy of coal presupposes its further extraction and processing.

Coals have a high calorific value, contain up to 32% of volatile substances, so they ignite well.

In England in the 17th century, coal was used as coke in iron smelting. Later in the 19th century, coal was used for transportation. Currently, coal is used in the production of electricity, metallurgical coke, and the manufacture of various products.

The largest coal basins in Russia in terms of coal mining are the Tunguska, Kuznetsk, and Pechora basins. In Kazakhstan - Karaganda. In the USA - the Appalachian and Pennsylvania basins. In Germany, the Ruhr and many others. Many countries have large deposits of coal.

Thus, we see that coal is an integral part of our life. The use of hard coal in practically all branches of the national economy presupposes its further extraction and processing, which undoubtedly conceals prospects still hidden from us.

The coal industry is an important link in the fuel and energy complex (FEC). According to CEO JSC "Rosugol" Y. Malyshev, who made a report on the socio-economic situation of the coal industry, Russia's share in the world's proven coal reserves is 12%, and predicted reserves are estimated at 30%. It accounts for 14% of world coal production.

Main directions industrial use coal: production of electricity, metallurgical coke, combustion for energy purposes, obtaining various (up to 300 items) products during chemical processing. The consumption of coals for the production of high-carbon carbon-graphite structural materials, mountain wax, plastics, synthetic liquid and gaseous high-calorie fuels, aromatic products, and highly nitrous acids for fertilizers is increasing. Coke obtained from coal is needed in large quantities in the metallurgical industry. During the processing of coal, vanadium, germanium, sulfur, gallium, molybdenum, zinc, and lead are extracted from it on an industrial scale. Ash from coal combustion, mining and processing wastes are used in the production of building materials, ceramics, refractory raw materials, alumina, and abrasives. For the purpose of optimal use of coal, it is enriched (removal of mineral impurities).

Getting coke carried out at coke plants. Coal is subjected to dry distillation (coking) by heating in special coke ovens without air access to a temperature of 1000 °C. This produces coke - a solid porous substance. In addition to coke, during the dry distillation of coal, volatile products are also formed, when they are cooled to 25-75 ° C, coal tar, ammonia water and gaseous products are formed. Coal tar undergoes fractional distillation, resulting in several fractions:

Light oil (boiling point up to 170 ° C); it contains aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, acids) and other substances;

Medium oil (boiling point 170-230 o C). These are phenols, naphthalene;

Anthracene oil - anthracene, fenathrene;

Heavy oil (boiling point 230-270 o C). These are naphthalene and its homologues, etc.

The composition of gaseous products (coke oven gas) includes benzene, toluene, xylenes, phenol, ammonia and other substances. Crude benzene is extracted from coke oven gas after purification from ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and cyanide compounds, from which individual hydrocarbons and a number of other valuable substances are isolated.

Hydrocarbons are recovered from coke oven gas by washing in scrubbers with liquid absorption oils. After distillation from oil, distillation from a fraction, purification and re-rectification, pure commercial products are obtained: benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc. From unsaturated compounds contained in crude benzene, coumarone resins are obtained, which are used for the production of varnishes, paints, linoleum and in rubber industry.

A characteristic feature of emissions from coke production is a wide variety of harmful substances contained in them (dust, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide (II), hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, phenols, benzene hydrocarbons, etc.). Although the number of individual components is small, they have significant toxicity.

The main sources of air pollution with dust include: the coal preparation shop, the coke sorting department, coke ovens during the loading of the charge and the issuance of coke. Atmospheric pollution by the latter is periodic and short-term (three operations for the issuance of coke lasting 2-3 minutes in 1 hour). When extinguishing coke in towers, together with water vapor, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur oxide, phenols, and resinous substances enter the atmosphere. To prevent these substances from entering the atmosphere, dry quenching units are installed on new coke oven batteries. In addition, in the coal preparation shops and coke sorting departments, the equipment is equipped with aspiration systems. From all aspiration systems of the plant, dust emission is about 0.9 kg per ton of coke. Approximately 0.4 kg of dust per ton of coke is released when coal is reloaded and loaded into furnaces.

Among the environmental pollutants formed in the by-product coke industry, there may be polycyclic hydrocarbons (including benzo-(a)-pyrene), which are carcinogenic substances. They can pollute atmospheric air, water and soil.

At the same time, coking plants produce a large amount of Wastewater. They contain production wastes and make up about 38% of the mass of the coked charge. About 30% of them are above-tar waters containing up to 3 g/l of volatile and non-volatile phenols, which significantly exceeds the maximum allowable concentrations phenols in water, which is sent for biochemical treatment. Therefore, such wastewater is deresined on quartz filters, after which it is fed to an ammonia column to remove ammonia, and then to a dephenolization scrubber. Only after that they are cooled and mixed in an equalizer with other waters. A more efficient extraction of phenols is achieved as a result of the use of steam circulation and liquid extraction methods, which reduce the concentration of phenols in wastewater to 10 -4%. This eliminates the toxicity of wastewater, due to the presence of phenols in them.

Significant volumes of waste are generated at coking plants (acid tar, fuses, flotation waste, processed acids, etc.). About half of them are not disposed of, but are taken to industrial landfills. Industrial wastes from coke plants contain large amounts of phenols (up to 880 mg/kg), cyanides (more than 120 mg/kg), thiocyanates (more than 10 mg/kg), etc. To prevent pollution environment and to preserve the health of the population, it is necessary to establish an accurate accounting of waste at coke plants, to ensure their maximum utilization. For non-recyclable waste, it is also necessary to ensure the collection of pitch and slag in metal containers with tight-fitting lids and store them in special landfills with waterproofing. Waste removal from the territory of the enterprise should be carried out by special transport according to the schedule.

Methods for obtaining synthetic fuels from coal. Highly promising direction coal processing is the production of synthetic fuels from it. Synthetic fuels derived from coal can be solid, liquid or gaseous. Solid synthetic fuels include a large number of refined or improved fuels such as "pure coal", coal briquettes, semi-coke, thermal coal, autoclaved coal. Synthetic liquid fuels are represented by boiler fuel (substitute for petroleum fuel oil), motor fuels and methanol. Gaseous fuels derived from coal are fuel gas, "natural gas substitute" and synthesis gas.

The production of synthetic fuels from coal is carried out by various methods. solid fuel with increased environmental cleanliness is obtained by removing harmful impurities from the original coal, such as sulfur and mineral impurities.

The advantages of "clean coal" are the reduction of SO 2 and particulate emissions during combustion, as well as an increase in calorific value compared to the original coal. When receiving fuel for domestic purposes, briquetting of coal fines is used. As a result, particulate emissions from combustion are reduced and the calorific value of the fuel can be increased. In some cases, special chemical additives are introduced into the briquettes, which reduce the yield of tar, soot, sulfur, and others. harmful products when burned.

Improving the quality of brown coals, which have a low calorific value due to the large amount of moisture and oxygen, is achieved by upgrading them during pyrolysis or processing with superheated steam.

Thermal refining brown coal increases its calorific value, in addition, the emission of SO 2 and NO X (for semi-coke and thermal coal) is reduced, and particulate emissions can be reduced when burning autoclaved lumpy coal.

The process of coal gasification is multipurpose in relation to the composition of the produced gas. When obtaining gaseous fuels, there are three main areas associated with the production of fuel gas, natural gas substitute and synthesis gas.

The use of fuel gas allows solving environmental and technological problems in power engineering, metallurgy and other industries. A feature of the resulting natural gas substitute is a low CO content and, consequently, relatively low toxicity, which allows this gas to be widely used for domestic purposes. Synthesis gas is used for chemical processing into methanol, motor fuels or for hydrogen production. To obtain liquid fuels directly from coal, the processes of hydrogenation, pyrolysis, and liquefaction with solvents are used.

Upon receipt of boiler fuel (substitute for petroleum fuel oil) and motor fuels, it is required additional application processes for hydroprocessing liquid coal products in order to reduce the content of sulfur and other undesirable impurities. The most easily processed "coal oil", obtained in the process of catalytic hydrogenation of coal.

An alternative direction for the production of synthetic liquid fuels is the combination of processes for obtaining synthesis gas from coal and its chemical processing.

Liquid fuels from synthesis gas are much more environmentally friendly than fuels obtained by direct liquefaction of coal. The latter contain a high amount of carcinogenic polycyclic compounds.

Processing of waste coal . Analysis chemical composition technological wastes of 80 coal preparation plants of the main coal basins of the USSR showed a fairly stable content of Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 in them, which allows them to be used as raw materials for the production of ceramic products. In the initial state, these wastes do not soak in water, but after crushing and grinding, their clay component is released and the waste acquires the ability to form a plastic mass with water, from which a raw brick can be formed, which is superior in some properties to similar ones from ordinary clay. The production of clay (red) bricks consists in firing a molded clay mass, to which sawdust, some organic waste, and sifted coal as a fuel (burnable) component are added. To reduce shrinkage during drying and firing, as well as to prevent deformation and cracks of manufactured ceramic products, natural ( quartz sands) or artificial (dehydrated clay, chamotte) lean materials. Firing of products from such waste is usually carried out under conditions that ensure the completion of the process of carbon burnout by the time the intensive sintering of the crock begins.

Coal contained in coal preparation waste can be used as a fuel during their thermal processing (mixed with clay rocks) into bricks, ceramics and other building materials. In this way, for example, agloporite- an artificial lightweight porous aggregate for concrete, the production of which has been established in a number of foreign countries and is being developed in Russia.

The production technology of agloporite can be different. At a number of plants, it consists in heat treatment by agglomeration of a granular charge from clay rocks or waste from mining, enrichment and combustion of coal, followed by crushing the “cake” resulting from sintering and separating the required aggregate fractions during sieving. Similarly, oil shale enrichment waste can be processed.

Sulfur dioxide production. Enrichment carried out in order to reduce the sulfur content in coal is accompanied by the formation of carbonaceous pyrites containing 42-46% sulfur and 5-8% carbon.

Pyrite is a potential raw material for the production of sulfuric acid, however, its direct processing into SO 2 by roasting leads to the production of low-concentration gases (as a result of their dilution with the resulting CO 2) and is associated with technical difficulties due to the need to remove excess heat from exothermic reactions. High-temperature processing of carbonaceous pyrites together with gypsum (40-45%) in mechanical furnaces does not provide decomposition of the latter by more than 20%, and leads to the formation of high-sulfur (10-15%) cinder.

In industrial practice, a method for the production of SO 2 has been used, by thermal processing of carbonaceous pyrites together with iron sulfates, which are waste products of metal pickling processes in the ferrous metallurgy and hardware industry, to obtain pigment TiO 2 . The output of iron sulfates in these industries is approximately 500 thousand tons / year in the form of FeSO 4 ∙ 7H 2 O. Roasting gases, the maximum concentration of SO 2 in which does not exceed 18.3%, are sent to the washing department of the sulfuric acid production.

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