G. E. Dolbear & Associates
Coal Science
Links
This list is not exhaustive, but it covers a wide variety of sites, many of which also have lists of web links that can be pursued. The list is broken into the following categories:
Coal Science invites you to submit other sites of interest for inclusion in this list.
US Government
The Fossil Energy (
http://www.fe.doe.gov/) division of the Department of Energy is the Federal Government's lead agency for work in coal, as well as petroleum and natural gas. Among Fossil Enbergy's responsibilities is operation of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (http://www.netl.doe.gov/) with labs near Pittsburgh, PA, and Morgantown, WV. The Pittsburgh lab (http://www.netl.doe.gov/welcome/history.html) is the descendent of the marvelous Bureau of Mines lab that was responsible for keeping coal science and engineering alive before the days of the DOE.Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois has a strong tradition is coal research. On its web page is found an excellent tutorial (http://chemistry.anl.gov/carbon/coal-tutorial/coalgeneral.html) on coal as well as information on the Premium Coal Sample program (http://www.anl.gov/PCS/pcshome.html), which provides samples of thoroughly characterized samples of eight coals from seven states (Illinois, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming).
The Department of Energy is also home to the Energy Information Administration, providing detailed statistical information on coal (http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelcoal.html) as well as petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy.
Other information on US coal resources can be found on the site of the US Geological Survey (http://energy.usgs.gov/factsheets/nca/nca.html). The information is broken down by regions, illustrated with maps in surprising detail.
Universities
University of Kentucky is home to two organizations with information on coal. The Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (
http://www.caer.uky.edu/) is dedicated to research into coal utilization. The Kentucky Geological Survey (http://www.uky.edu/kgs/home.htm) provides extensive information on coal from a geologist's perspective.The University of North Dakota is home to the Energy and Environmental Research Center (http://www.eerc.und.nodak.edu/), at one time a major site for coal research but today concentrating in other areas.
Southern Illinois University in Carbondale is home to a major coal research center (http://www.siu.edu/~coalctr/).
Penn State University (http://www.psu.edu/) has a distinguished history of developing science and technology for producing and using coal. This work has recently been consolidated under the umbrella of the PSU Energy Institute (http://www.energyinstitute.psu.edu/carbon/index.shtml). Also at Penn State is a valuable collection of coal samples (http://www.ems.psu.edu/COPL/psusb.htm) maintained under carefully controlled conditions for reference and future research.
University of Utah (http://www.che.utah.edu/) and its department of fuels engineering (now Chemical and Fuels Engineering) was at one time a strong force in the exploration of coal chemistry and engineering of coal conversion and utilization. The present website shows little if any of that earlier work.
The University of West Virginia (http://www.nrcce.wvu.edu/) has a long and strong history of coal science and engineering, as would be expected for a state where coal is such an important product.
University of Wyoming is home to the Western Research Institute (http://wri.uwyo.edu/content/technology_areas/coal/index.shtml), with laboratories and pilot facilities dedicated to coal and other fuels technologies.
State Governments
Coal resources are widely dispersed throughout the US. To find out about any state, view the useful map at the EIA's site (
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/statepro/imagemap/usaimagemap.htm) and click on the state of interest. Another site for basic information state-by-state is the organization Center for Energy and Economic Development (http://www.ceednet.org/). Alaska is a major oil producer, but it also has large coal resources (http://energy.er.usgs.gov/products/databases/USCoal/figure3.htm), much of it in relatively inaccessible sites in the Brooks Range. Colorado (http://geosurvey.state.co.us/) is a major coal producing state. At one time the Colorado School of Mines (http://www.mines.edu/index_js.shtml) had active programs in coal utilization, but nowadays provides very little information on the topic. Ohio is a major coal producing state. Information can be found at (http://www.ohiocoal.com/). Illinois a major coal producing state with immense resources and production. Details on the resource can be found at the excellent web page of the Illinois State Geological Survey (http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/coalsec/coalsect.html). The Illinois Clean Coal Institute (http://www.icci.org) supports research and development aimed at developing clean applications for Illinois' high sulfur coal; this site also provides a useful set of links (http://www.icci.org/coalinfo.html). Kentucky is a major coal producing state, with reserves (http://www.coaleducation.org/Ky_Coal_Facts/Default.htm) and active mines in the east and the west. The Kentucky Geological Survey has a good tutorial (http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/) on coal, and the University of Kentucky is home to the Kentucky. Center for Applied Energy Research (http://www.caer.uky.edu/), long a center of excellence for research related to coal and ways to use it. Kentucky also has the Kentucky Coal Education Web Site (http://www.coaleducation.org/) with a collection of educational tools describing coal and coal mining in Kentucky. North Dakota (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/schwert/ndgs/nd_coal.htm) has immense deposits of lignite and other coals. It is also the home to the only operating US plant (http://www.dakotagas.com/) converting coal to natural gas and chemicals. Pennsylvania is almost synonymous with coal mining, with immense resources (http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/enved/go_with_inspector/coalmine/Bituminous_Coal_Mining.htm) and a long history of mining (http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/index1.html). Pennsylvania is home to three major coal research facilities, at Penn State (http://www.energyinstitute.psu.edu/carbon/index.shtml), the Pittsburgh labs of the NETL (http://www.netl.doe.gov), and Consol's lab (http://www.consolenergy.com/) outside Pittsburgh. Texas (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/dkc3.html) is another state that is usually thought of as an oil producer, but the state has large coal resources that it produces primarily for power generation. West Virginia (http://www.wvcoal.com/) is a major coal producer, not always to its advantage. The city of Beckley (http://www.beckleymine.com) has an excellent exhibition coal mine that gives visitors a first hand feeling for the dangers inherent in the mining industry. The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (http://www.mme.state.va.us/dmr/docs/minres/coal/coalmining.html) provides information on coal mining in that state. Another Virginia site (http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/coal.html) includes a well-organized list of links. Canada Canada is a major coal producer, both for local consumption and for export. Major coal producing regions are found in the maritime provinces, in Ontario, and in the mountains and plains of Alberta and BC. The Coal Association of Canada (http://www.coal.ca/) web site is more about the Coal Association than it is about coal. It does, however, present some basic information, including a map showing the locations of coal mines and their relationships to rail lines and shipping sites (http://www.coal.ca/coalmap.htm). Canada's western coal producing areas in Alberta and British Columbia export large tonnages through the giant Westshore (http://www.westshore.com/) shipping terminal at Roberts Bank south of Vancouver. In 2001, about 25 million tons of western coal was shipped from here to countries around the world. Also in the west, outside Edmonton, is Canada's unique National Center for Upgrading Technology (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cwrc/English/home_e.html), dedicated to developing methods to make use of bitumen and heavy oils. In the past, NCUT also provided for clean coal technologies.Australia
Australia (http://www.industry.gov.au/coal) claims to be the world's largest coal exporter, shipping bituminous and subbituminous coal around the world. It is home to several very large coal mining companies. Australia's CSIRO has a long history of R&D aimed at broad aspects of coal mining and usage (http://www.det.csiro.au/science/energyresources/coal_topics.htm). Coal conversion work here (and elsewhere, of course) has seen reduced emphasis in recent years, with most of the information on the site referring to work completed in the middle 1990s.
University of Newcastle has an active research program in various topics falling under the umbrella of coal. This work is centered in the Geology department (). Faculty members in this area have prepared several excellent introductory papers on their areas; see, for instance, Coal: an introduction (http://www.newcastle.edu.au/discipline/geology/research/cfkd/undp.htm).
South AfricaWith an abundance of coal, little petroleum and a hostile world refusing to provide oil for transportation, South Africa was forced to pioneer the coal-to-liquids and chemicals technologies now used by Sasol (
http://www.sasol.com/) that today is arguably the best in the world. Things changed in South Africa with the disappearance of apartheid in the 1990s, and the Sasol site no longer emphasizes this technology. Detailed information can be found by a little digging under the "companies and activities" links on the main page.China
China is a very large producer of coal, with more than 37% of global hard coal production in 2003. A map showing resource locations and mines, classified by size and rank, can be found at the USGS site (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/of01-318/coal_mines.pdf) . Production has increased dramatically wince the 1990s, part of China’s rapid economic growth. Much of this coal is used internally for power generation and in making steel, but China has also become a major exporter of coal. For background information see the report on the IEA web site, (http://www.iea.org/Textbase/nppdf/free/2004/coal2004_selection.pdf ). It appears that much of this turnaround is driven by the overall economic expansion in China, but it was made possible by a loosening of control by the national government. For some discussion of this, see the article on DOE’s EIA site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/archives/china/part3.html) News and production information from China on coal can be found in English at (http://www.sxcoal.com/en/index.asp).
Safety is a major problem in Chinese coal mines, with regular reports of fires, explosions, and the like. A Google search on keywords such as China Coal Safety brings back hundreds of relevant and timely articles on the situation. Even the US Congress has held hearings on the topic (!) (http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/121004/index.php).
Consol (http://www.consolenergy.com/) is a major US producer of coal. Its research center (http://www.consolenergy.com/main.asp?c=Research&Development) outside Pittsburgh, PA, is an important industrial center for mining and utilization technology. Consol's site has a very useful glossary (http://www.consolenergy.com/glossary.htm) of terms related to the coal industry.
Peabody Energy (http://www.peabodyenergy.com/index-ie.html) is a major producer of coal in the US.On its site are descriptions of its operations around the world, a set of industry links (http://www.peabodyenergy.com/index-ie.html) and a glossary of terms (http://www.peabodyenergy.com/index-ie.html).
Trade Associations
The World Coal Institute (http://www.wci-coal.com/) located in London contains background information with a page of useful links (http://www.wci-coal.com/web/content.php?menu_id=3.3).
The American Coal Foundation (http://www.teachcoal.org) produces a broad selection of basic information about coal aimed primarily at teachers and students. The also provide a large set of links (http://www.teachcoal.org/resources/index.html) to other sites.
While not strictly a trade organization, The IEA's Clean Coal Center (http://www.iea-coal.org.uk/site/ieaccc/home) serves many of the same funtions plus an active program supporting and performing research.
The National Mining Association (http://www.nma.org/), formed in 1995 by the merger of the National Coal Association and the American Mining Congress is a trade association promoting the production and use of coal.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) (http://ww.epri.com) sponsors studies on all aspects of the generation, transmission, and use of electric power. As such they are a valuable resource for those interested in learning more about coal in this value chain. The web page is at best a product catalog, listing many research reports, some of which are available for a fee.