BASIC

ENERGYCOAL FACTS
IN INDIA
Coal is a fossil fuel and is the altered remains of prehistoric vegetation that originally
accumulated in swamps and peat bogs. The energy we get from coal today comes from
the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago.

HOW IS COAL FORMED? HOW IS

COAL MINED
AND PRODUCED?
Coal formation Tectonic movements buried plant

6.9
material from swamps and peat bogs,
begins

360
which were covered under silt and
sediments, often to great depths. With
burial, the plant material was subjected
to high temperatures and pressures.
This caused physical and chemical
changes in the vegetation, transforming
billion tonnes of hard
million to it into peat and then into coal. coal are currently

290
Initially the peat was converted into lignite or ‘brown produced worldwide.
coal’ and over many more millions of years, the continuing
effects of temperature and pressure produces further Coal is mined by two methods:
change in the lignite, transforming it into the range surface or ‘opencast’ mining,
known as ‘sub-bituminous’ coals. Further chemical and and underground mining.
physical changes occur until these coals became harder The choice of mining method
million years ago. and blacker, forming the ‘bituminous’ or ‘hard’ coals. largely depends on the
Under the right conditions, the progress can continue geology of the coal deposit.
until anthracite is formed. Underground mining currently
Types of coal accounts for a bigger share
CARBON/ENERGY CONTENT OF COAL HIGH
of world coal production than
HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT OF COAL
opencast; although in several
important coal-producing
Low rank coals Hard coal countries, surface mining is
47% 53%
% of world reserves

more common.
Lignite Sub-bituminous Bituminous Anthracite
17% 30% 52% ~1% The largest coal-producing
Thermal
Steam coal
Metallurgical
Coking coal
countries are not confined to
one region; the top five hard
Largely power Power generation Power generation Manufacture Domestic/industrial, coal producers are China,
USES

generation Cement manufacture Cement manufacture of iron and including smokeless

Industrial uses Industrial uses steel fuel the USA, India, Australia
and Indonesia.
Much of global coal
WHERE IS COAL FOUND? production is used in
the country in which it
was produced.

2
Coal reserves are available in
almost every country worldwide,
with the biggest reserves being
in the USA, Russia, China and

x
India. Around 70 countries have
recoverable coal reserves.

Coal is readily available from a

wide variety of sources in a well- Ship and rail can be used to Total coal exports
supplied global market. Over 50
countries mine coal commercially
transport coal to demand have more than
and over 70 countries use it. centres quickly, safely and easily. doubled since 2000.

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 HOW IS COAL USED?

ELECTRICITY

41%
Coal plays a Electricity lights houses,
vital role in buildings and streets,
electricity provides domestic and
generation industrial heat, and powers
globally. most equipment used in
of global electricity is currently homes, offices, hospitals
fuelled by coal-fired power plants. and machinery in factories.

STEEL

70%
Steel helps deliver the Global steel production is dependent on coal –
goods and services either for the energy used in electric arc furnaces
that our societies that produce coal or as a primary source.
need – healthcare,
Steel is an alloy based primarily on iron. As iron
telecommunications,
occurs only as iron oxides in the earth’s crust, the
agricultural practices,
ores must be converted, or ‘reduced’, using carbon.
transport networks,
The primary source of this carbon is coking coal.
clean water and
access to reliable and of steel produced Metallurgical coal – or coking coal – is a vital
ingredient in the steel-making process.
affordable energy. today uses coal.

CEMENT

300-
Large amounts of energy are required for the production
of cement – a critical component for the construction
industry. Much of this energy is supplied through coal.

200
of coal needed to
produce 1 tonne
kg
400kg
of cement is needed to produce 1 cubic
of cement. metre of concrete.

Liquid fuels from coal provide a viable alternative

TRANSPORT

50%
to conventional oil products and can be used in the
existing supply infrastructure. Coal-to-liquids currently
Coal-derived fuels, provides 20% of South Africa’s transport needs,
as well as coal-based including 7.5% of jet fuel.
electricity, can play
Globally, the ownership of motor vehicles has increased
a significant role in
from around 250 million in 1970 to over one billion today.
responding to the
growing energy needs Coal is also an important raw material and source of of the energy used to
of the transport sector. primary energy for the manufacturing of materials
used to build transport infrastructure, such as steel,
produce aluminium
cement and aluminium. comes from coal.

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