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Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad, is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
 and peat
Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation biological tissue. Peat forms in wetlands or peatlands, variously called bogs, Moorland, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests....
. It is considered the lowest rank of coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
; it is primarily mined in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and many European countries
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, and it is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation. Up to 50% of Greece's electricity and 25% of Germany's comes from lignite power plants.

Lignite is brownish-black in color and has a carbon content of around 60%, a high inherent moisture content sometimes as high as 66%, and an ash
Coal assay

Coal assay techniques are specific analytical methods designed to measure the particular physical and chemical properties of coals. These methods are used primarily to determine the suitability of coal for coke , power generation or for iron ore smelting in the manufacture of steel....
 content ranging from 6% to 19% compared with 6% to 12% for bituminous coal
Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite but poorer quality than Anthracite....
.

The heat content of lignite ranges from 10 to 20 MJ/kg (9 to 17 million Btu
British thermal unit

The British thermal unit is a unit of energy used in the power, steam generation, heating and air conditioning industries. In scientific contexts the BTU has largely been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule , though it may be used as a measure of agricultural energy production ....
 per short ton
Short ton

The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 Pound . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted....
) on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis.






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Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad, is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
 and peat
Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation biological tissue. Peat forms in wetlands or peatlands, variously called bogs, Moorland, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests....
. It is considered the lowest rank of coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
; it is primarily mined in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and many European countries
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, and it is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation. Up to 50% of Greece's electricity and 25% of Germany's comes from lignite power plants.

Lignite is brownish-black in color and has a carbon content of around 60%, a high inherent moisture content sometimes as high as 66%, and an ash
Coal assay

Coal assay techniques are specific analytical methods designed to measure the particular physical and chemical properties of coals. These methods are used primarily to determine the suitability of coal for coke , power generation or for iron ore smelting in the manufacture of steel....
 content ranging from 6% to 19% compared with 6% to 12% for bituminous coal
Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite but poorer quality than Anthracite....
.

The heat content of lignite ranges from 10 to 20 MJ/kg (9 to 17 million Btu
British thermal unit

The British thermal unit is a unit of energy used in the power, steam generation, heating and air conditioning industries. In scientific contexts the BTU has largely been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule , though it may be used as a measure of agricultural energy production ....
 per short ton
Short ton

The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 Pound . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted....
) on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The heat content of lignite consumed in the United States averages 13 million Btu/ton (15 MJ/kg), on the as-received basis (i.e., containing both inherent moisture and mineral matter). When reacted with quaternary amine
Quaternary ammonium cation

Quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively electric charge polyatomic ions of the structure NR4+ with R being alkyl groups....
, amine treated lignite (ATL) forms. ATL is used in drilling mud
Drilling mud

In geotechnical engineering, drilling mud, also known as spud mud , is a drilling fluid used to drill boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil well and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs but can also be used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells....
 to reduce fluid loss.

Lignite has a high content of volatile matter which makes it easier to convert into gas and liquid petroleum products than higher ranking coals. However, its high moisture content and susceptibility to spontaneous combustion
Spontaneous combustion

Spontaneous combustion may refer to:* Spontaneous combustion, the self-ignition of a mass, for example, a pile of oily rags.* Spontaneous Combustion , a 2007 album by Liquid Trio Experiment...
 can cause problems in transportation and storage.

Because of its low energy density, brown coal is inefficient to transport and is not traded extensively on the world market compared with higher coal grades. It is often burned in power stations constructed very close to any mines, such as in Australia's Latrobe Valley
Latrobe Valley

The Latrobe Valley is nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges and the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, Australia, Australia. It is named after the Latrobe River which flows, eastwards, through it....
 and Luminant's Monticello plant in Texas. Emissions from brown coal fired plants are generally much higher than for comparable black coal plants, with the world's worst polluting being the brown coal fueled Hazelwood Power Station, Victoria
Hazelwood Power Station, Victoria

Hazelwood Power Station, in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria , is a Lignite fueled base-load power station built between 1964 and 1971. The power station is of 1,600 megawatt capacity, and supplies up to 25% of Victoria's base load power plant....
. The operation of brown coal plants, particularly in combination with strip mining, can be politically contentious due to environmental concerns.

Types

Lignite can be separated into two types. The first is xyloid lignite or fossil wood
Fossil wood

Fossil wood is wood that is preserved in the fossil record. Over time the wood will usually be the part of a plant that is best preserved . Fossil wood may or may not be petrified wood....
 and the second form is the compact lignite or perfect lignite.

Although xyloid lignite may sometimes have the tenacity and the appearance of ordinary wood it can be seen that the combustible woody tissue has experienced a great modification. It is reducible to a fine powder by trituration
Trituration

Trituration is the name of several different methods of processing materials.Trituration is also the name of the process for reducing the particle size of a substance by grinding, as by grinding of powders in a Mortar and pestle with a pestle....
 and if submitted to the action of a weak solution of potash
Potash

Potash is the common name given to potassium carbonate and various mined and manufactured salts that contain the element potassium in water-soluble form....
 it yields a considerable quantity of ulmic acid.

Production

Lignite mined in millions of metric tons
Country 1970 1980 1990 2000 2001
369.300 388.000 356.500 167.700 175.400
127.000 141.000 137.300 86.400 83.200
5.400 42.300 82.600 83.500 80.500
24.200 32.900 46.000 65.000 67.800
8.100 23.200 51.700 63.300 67.000
24 24 24 24 24
32.800 36.900 67.600 61.300 59.500
4.400 15.000 43.800 63.000 57.200
67.000 87.000 71.000 50.100 50.700
13.000 22.000 38.000 40.000 47.000
26.000 43.000 60.000 - -
- - - 35.500 35.500
14.100 27.100 33.500 17.900 29.800
5.700 10.000 10.000 26.000 26.500
Total 804.000 1,028.000 1,214.000 877.400 894.800


See also

  • Coal
    Coal

    Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
  • Bituminous coal
    Bituminous coal

    Bituminous coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite but poorer quality than Anthracite....
  • Energy value of coal
    Energy value of coal

    The energy value of coal, or the fuel content, is the amount of potential energy in coal that can be converted into actual Heating value. The value can be calculated and compared with different grades of coal or even other materials....
  • Coal assay
    Coal assay

    Coal assay techniques are specific analytical methods designed to measure the particular physical and chemical properties of coals. These methods are used primarily to determine the suitability of coal for coke , power generation or for iron ore smelting in the manufacture of steel....
  • Karrick process
    Karrick process

    The Official Seal of Relevance and Integrity:The Karrick process is a low-temperature carbonization of coal, Oil shale, lignite or any carbonaceous materials....
  • Fischer-Tropsch process
    Fischer-Tropsch process

    The Fischer-Tropsch process is a catalyst chemistry in which synthesis gas , a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms....
  • Bergius process
    Bergius process

    The Bergius Process is a method of production of liquid hydrocarbons for use as synthetic fuel by hydrogenation of high-volatile bituminous coal at high temperature and pressure....
  • List of CO2 emitted per million Btu of energy from various fuels
    List of CO2 emitted per million Btu of energy from various fuels

    Pounds of Carbon dioxide emitted per million British thermal units of energy for various fuels:...


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