British coals

M. A. Field and co-workers. Combustion ofPulveri d Coal, British Coal Utilisation Research Association, Leatherhead, Surrey, U.K., 1967. 

British Coal Corp. is developing a gasoline-from-coal process at a faciUty at Point of Ayr (Scotiand). This process involves treatment with Hquid recycle solvents, digestion at 450—500°C, filtration to separate unconverted residues, and separation into two fractions. The lighter fraction is mildly hydrotreated, and the heavier one is hydrocracked (56). 

Gasoline from Coal, British Coal Liquefaction Project, Point of Ayr, Scodmd, 1992. 

H. Seidl, Proceedings Joint Sjmposium on Combustion, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London, (1955) H. Seidl, TUeventh Coal Science Tecture, Inst, of Givi Engineers, Publ. Gazette, 46, British Coal Utilization Research Assoc., Leatherhead, U.K., Oct. 1962. 

Nef, J. U. (1932). The Rise of the British Coal Industry. London Routledge. 

An example is the classification scheme used by British Coal, and is common throughout the UK. The scheme divides coals into groups, generally as shown in Table 15.6. The group, grading and modes of preparation of a coal serve to indicate the usage for which the coal is suitable for application with industrial boilers. For grading of coal the nominal sizes are shown as follows ... 

Figure 23.5 A stoker-fired watertube boiler of 36,300 kg/h steam capacity at 28 bar and 385°C (from British Coal Publication, Boiler House Design for Solid Fuel, 1980, and kind permission from College of Fuel Technology)...

P. J. Jackson (private communication) considers that present-day compositions of ashes from British coals would range as follows ... 

There is extensive experience within the UK of the combustion of high-chlorine coals because of the unusually high chlorine contents found in indigenous British coals" . These Cl levels average 0.25%, with some... 

The use of plastics as an energy source was demonstrated on a commercial scale at ICl Materials plastics manufacturing site in Dumfries, UK. This paper covers the preparation and use of pre- and post-consumer plastics as supplementary fuels in a circulating fluidised bed boiler specially designed for co-combustion with coal. Full emissions data on the 15% mixtures of individual plastics with coal are given, together with calculations of thermal efficiencies. Measurements by an independent body (British Coal Research Establishment) confirmed that the co-combustion of coal and plastic reduces some emissions compared with coal alone. Thermal efficiencies of around 80% were achieved and this heat was used effectively during the production of plastics. 7 refs. 

Taylor, J., and Gay, P. F., British Coal Mining Explosives. Newnes, London, 1958. Thorpe s Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, 4, 558. Longmans Green, London, 4th ed. 1940. 

Mott, R. A. Contribution to Discussion, "Proc. Conf. on Ultra-fine Structure of Coals and Cokes , British Coal Utilization Research Association, 1944, pp. 156-159. 

Thus it will be necessary to exploit other more abundant resources of hydrocarbons. In the United Kingdom there are large reserves of coal which could satisfy demand for at least two hundred and fifty years. The National Coal Board currently mines approximately 120 million tons of coal per annum of which 65% is used for generating electricity (JO. (Combustion of the low sulphur British coals does not result in excessive atmospheric pollution.) To satisfy the increased demand for coal the National Coal Board has undertaken an investment programme which includes the development of a mining complex at Selby in Yorkshire which, it is estimated, will produce in excess of 10-million tons when full production is reached in 1988. 

The petrological composition is important when considering the solvent extraction of prime coking coals but with lower rank British coals the variations in petrology are less pronounced. A more frequent cause of variations in extraction yield with low rank coals (CRC 802 and CRC 902) results from ageing. The reactivity of a coal decreases substantially as the coal becomes oxidised by exposure to the atmosphere (Table III). 

LSE [Liquid solvent extraction] A coal liquifaction process, under development in 1990 by British Coal, at Point of Ayr, North Wales. The coal is dissolved in a coal-derived hydrocarbon solvent and then catalytically hydrocracked. 

Taylor, J. und Gay, R F. British Coal Mining Explosives, George New-nes, London 1958... 

Scullion, J. (ed) (1994). Restoring Farmland After Coal. The Bryngwyn Project University of Wales. British Coal Opencast Aberystwyth. 

The authors thank the US Dept, of Energy (Contract Nos. DE-FE22-83-C60811 and DE-AC04-76DP00789) and the Science and Engineering Research Council with British Coal (CASC studentship for N.W.S.) for financial support. 

In this series of experiments, the catalysts were used over five repeat contacts with fresh coal liquid. Point of Ayr coal liquid was supplied by the British Coal Corporation, Coal Research Establishment (CF ) one batch of this coal liquid was used in experiments with CoMo and NiMo catalysts and a further batch was used in experiments with ZnMo and ZnW. The catalysts were prepared as extrudates by the technique of incipient wetness which requires stirring the dry alumina support with a set volume of a pre-determined concentration of an appropriate soluble salt of the metal such that the pore space is just taken up by the metals at the required concentration. The alumina support was supplied by Akzo Chemie, The Netherlands and the catalysts were made up to contain 15% WO3 or M0O3 and 3% NiO, CoO, or ZnO, expressed as a weight percentage of the weight of support... 

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Science and Engineering Research Council and British Coal (Grant Reference No. GR/D 41163) and the supply of chemicals by Akzo Chemie, The Netheriands (catalyst support) and British Coal, Coal Research Establishment (coal liquid). 

---