Powder River Basin in Wyoming

The oldest and most common application of size enlargement by agglomeration for solid fuels, which now also include biomass [B.25, B.48] (Section 8.2), utilizes different forms of pressure agglomeration. More modem uses of the technology try to convert abundantly available cheap sub-bituminous coal from, for example, the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, USA, into an improved product with increased heating value [6.10.2] (Section 6.10.2). 

Likewise, both sources are optimistic about coal prices. The DOE expects that continued increases in mine productivity and the shift to low-cost coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming will lead to a gradual decline in mine mouth coal costs to approximately 20 per ton in 2020. 

The crude oil used in the experiments was a mixture of 75-percent natural acidic crude oil and 25-percent n-decane, by volume. Therefore, the originally high viscosity of the natural acidic crude oil was decreased to a desired level of approximately 30-cP. Consequently, the injectivity loss, pore plugging and emulsion formation problems could be avoided. The natural acidic crude oil was from the Newcastle formation in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. 

The feed for the plant nominally is subbituminous coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. However, the project has been designed to use other lower rank coals, including lignite. In early 1989, the project tested bituminous coals to prove the process for its application to higher rank coals. 

Heffern EL, Reiners PW, Naeser CA, Coates DA, (2007) Geochronology of clinker and implications for evolution of the Powder River Basin landscape, Wyoming and Montana, in Stracher, G., ed., Reviews in Engineering Geology Geol Soc Am Spec Pap. (in press)... 

Merewether, E. A. Stratigraphic and tectonic implications of Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Powder River Basin, northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, 1996 Vol.917-T, p 90. 

McPherson, B. J. O. L. and Cole, B. S. (2000). Multiphase C02 flow, transport and sequestration in the Powder River basin, Wyoming, USA. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 69-70 (June), 65-70. 

Rubin, B. 1970. Uranium roll front zonation in the southern Powder River Basin, Wyoming. Earth Science Bulletin [M], Wyoming Geological Association, 5-12. 

The largest volume of coal mined in the USA comes from the Powder River Basin (PRB) located in Wyoming and Montana (EIA 1995). Combustion of the PRB coal produces a high-Ca Class-C fly ash (22-32 wt% CaO) that is widely used as a replacement for Portland cement in concrete. An XRD pattern of this... 

In order to determine the origin of sulfur in coals, Hackley and Anderson (18) studied the sulfur isotopic composition of various coals from the western United States. Coals from the Powder River Basin, Wyoming were found to have anomalously low values (-18.7 to 3.9 parts per mil). The unusual values of these coals suggest that original plant material and isotopically light secondary sulfur from bacterial activity were the major contributors to the sulfur content of these coals. 

The Hanna Basin coals from Wyoming had higher 63ife values than coals from the Powder River Basin. The pattern of sulfur isotopic composition found in coals from the Hanna Basin revealed that coals near the top of the coal seam contained more of the heavy sulfur isotope than coals stratigraphically lower in the coal seam. The sulfur isotope pattern observed in the Hanna Basin coals suggests that sulfur was introduced in sulfate-rich water from the top of the coal seam. 

Rosholt, J. N., A. P. Butler, E. L. Garner, and W. R. Shields Isotopic Fractionation of Uranium in sandstone, powder river basin, Wyoming, and slick rock district, Colorado. Econ. Geol. 60, 199 (1965). 

Figure 13. Histograms and descriptive statistics of arsenic abundance in U.S. coals, a) Coals from the Powder River basin of Montana and Wyoming, b) Coals of the midcontinental U.S. including Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentuclq/. c) Coals of the Black Warrior basin, Alabama. Also shown for each histogram are the number of samples (n), the mean (x) and median (x,s)...

Dreher GB, Finkelman RB. 1992. Selenium mobilization in a surface coal mine, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA. Environ Geol Water Sci 19(3) 155-169. 

One of the reasons that Powder River Basin (Wyoming) coals are widely used for pulverized coal combustion power plants (despite the relatively low heating value) is the low sulfur content. With the increased restrictions on sulfur dioxide emission regulations, coal combustion power plants looking to avoid expensive and efficiency-reducing flue gas desulfurization retrofits have switched to low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal. There is also the possibility that western coals can be combined with petroleum coke in order to increase the heating value and decrease the moisture content of the gasification feedstock. 

Fig. 3 Uranium content of shallow groundwaters in southern Powder River Basin, Wyoming. Thick dashed lines indicate some oxidation-reduction interfaces along which much of uranium ore occurs. All data points outside 3 ppb contour contain <2ppb uranium. Arrow depicts current groundwater flow as determined by piezometric data ...

Fig. 4 Helium concentration measured in trapped air in equilibrium with water samples collected from water wells in southern Powder River Basin, Wyoming ... 

Roll-type uranium deposits occur in intracratonic sedimentary basins in the U.S.A. Best known are those in Tertiary strata of Wyoming (Powder River, Shirley and Wind River basins) and the Texas Gulf Coast. Smaller deposits are present in Jurassic rocks of the Colorado Plateau. 

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