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Sub-bituminous coal

 

 
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Sub-bituminous coal
 
 
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Sub-bituminous coal is a type 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....
 whose properties range from those of lignite
Lignite

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 and peat....
 to those of 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....
 and are used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation
Fossil fuel power plant

A fossil-fuel power plant is a power stations that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity.Fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation....
.

Properties
Sub-bituminous coals may be dull, dark brown to black, soft and crumbly at the lower end of the range, to bright jet-black
Jet (lignite)

Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure....
, hard
Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Not to be confused with Siemens_#Mho, a unit of electric conductance.The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material....
, and relatively strong at the upper end. They contain 15-30% inherent moisture by weight and are non-coking (undergo little swelling upon heating).






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Encyclopedia


Sub-bituminous coal is a type 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....
 whose properties range from those of lignite
Lignite

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 and peat....
 to those of 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....
 and are used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation
Fossil fuel power plant

A fossil-fuel power plant is a power stations that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity.Fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation....
.

Properties


Sub-bituminous coals may be dull, dark brown to black, soft and crumbly at the lower end of the range, to bright jet-black
Jet (lignite)

Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure....
, hard
Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Not to be confused with Siemens_#Mho, a unit of electric conductance.The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material....
, and relatively strong at the upper end. They contain 15-30% inherent moisture by weight and are non-coking (undergo little swelling upon heating). The heat content of sub-bituminous coals range from 8300 to 11,500 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 ....
/lb
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
 or 19,306 to 26,749 kJ
Joule

The joule is the SI derived unit of energy in the International System of Units. It is defined as:One joule is the amount of energy required to perform the following actions:...
/kg
Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogrammeThe spelling kilogram is used by the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the U.S....
. Their relatively low density and high water content renders some types of sub-bituminous coals susceptible to spontaneous combustion if not packed densely during storage in order to exclude free air flow.

Reserves


A major source of sub-bituminous coal in the United States is the Powder River Basin
Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming about east to west and north to south known for its coal deposits....
 in Wyoming
Wyoming

The State of Wyoming is a sparsely populated U.S. state in the Northwestern United States of the United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the easternmost section of the state is a high altitude prairie region known as the High Plains ....
.

Current Use


Sub-bituminous coals, in the United States
Coal in the United States

More than 90 percent of the coal mined annually in the United States is used by the US electrical power industry. Since 2000, the growth of fossil fuel power plant has slowed considerably from what it was in the late 1990s....
, typically have a sulfur
Sulfur

Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant Valence non-metal....
 content less than 1% by weight
Weight

In the physical sciences, weight is a measurement of the gravitational force acting on an object. Near the surface of the Earth, the Earth's gravity is approximately constant; this means that an object's weight is roughly proportional to its mass....
, which makes them an attractive choice for power plants
Fossil fuel power plant

A fossil-fuel power plant is a power stations that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity.Fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation....
 to reduce SO2
Sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula SO2. It is produced by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide....
 emissions under the Acid Rain Program
Acid Rain Program

The Acid Rain Program is a market-based initiative taken by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to reduce overall atmospheric levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain....
.

See also

  • Types 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....
  • Acid Rain Program
    Acid Rain Program

    The Acid Rain Program is a market-based initiative taken by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to reduce overall atmospheric levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain....
  • 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:...