Coal production, global

Figure 9.6. Global cumulative industrial age Hg mine production, Hg production from coal, and total global Hg production since 1860 based on estimated world annual Hg mine and coal production (inset The percentage of Hg production from coal over the total global Hg production) (after Han et al., 2002a. Reprinted from Naturwissenschaften, 89, Han F.X., Banin A., Su Y., Monts D.L., Plodinec M.J., Kingery W.L., Triplett G.B., Industrial age anthropogenic inputs of heavy metals into the pedosphere, p 500, Copyright (2002), with kind permission of Springer Science and Business Media)...

The worldwide coal production and consumption in 1998 were 5043 and 5014 million short tons, respectively. The known world recoverable coal reserves in 1999 were 1087 billion short tons (AER, 1999 lEA, 2000). Coal reserves are rather evenly spread around the globe 25% ate in the USA, 16% in Russia, and 11.5% in China. Although coal is much more abundant than oil and gas on a global scale, coalfields can be depleted in a region. The known world recoverable coal reserves in 1999 were 989 billion tons. 

Furthermore, while the consumption of oil and natural gas has increased in recent decades (Figure 2.2), global coal production has remained fairly constant since 1990. With production levels hovering around 5000 million short tons of coal per year and with reserves of... 

Coal Combustion and Electricity Production World coal consumption is about 3.3 billion tonnes oil equivalent annually (2008), of which about 75% is used for to generate electricity. Coal currently supplies about 39% of the world s electricity, 4% based on lignite and 35% based on black (hard) coal (RWE, 2005). For electricity generation, coal is usually pulverized and burned in a furnace with a boiler to produce steam that is used in turbines to create electricity with about 40% efficiency for the entire process. In addition to electricity production, 13% of the global coal production is burned in the domestic and non-metallic industry, for example, for cement production. 

Coal in Iron and Steel Production About 20% of the total global coal production is consumed by the steel industry in blast furnaces (Section 6.5), where coke made from coking coals is used (Figure 5.1.29). World steel production is 1.3 billion tonnes (2008), of which % are made in blast furnaces, that is, about 0.9 bUHon... 

Although oil and gas are important, coal is the major somce of energy for both nations. In China, for example, coal supplies c. 70 percent of the nation s energy needs. Coal production is expected to increase in the next decade as industrialization continues in both nations. Globally, coal production is also set to increase as other nations industrialize, notably in southeast Asia and South America. Other major producers of coal are Russia, Australia, South Africa and in a number of European nations, e.g. Poland and Germany, coal mining remains an important industry with a long history. 

Natural gas will continue to be substituted for oil and coal as primary energy source in order to reduce emissions of noxious combustion products particulates (soot), unburned hydrocarbons, dioxins, sulfur and nitrogen oxides (sources of acid rain and snow), and toxic carbon monoxide, as well as carbon dioxide, which is believed to be the chief greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Policy implemented to curtail carbon emissions based on the perceived threat could dramatically accelerate the switch to natural gas. 

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