Physical Properties of Coal

Coal is a fossil fuel and is actually not recognized as a mineral. Throughout the recent past years though coal has gain a lot of importance economically to the point where it is sought for a lot more than in the past. Coal is easy to recognize and identify in the field. It has a black color to it and when a piece of it is burned it is impossible not to recognize its odor of coal smoke. Big deposits have been found in a lot of states of the U.S. however a lot of them are not economically feasible to work in. Coal has four most important markets that include electric utilities, industrial and retail users, the steel industry and exports. Electric utilities utilize over eighty six percent of the coal that is produced within the United States. If this is observed closely it is pretty obvious that that price has been a main deciding factor in the increased use of coal. Over fifty seven percent of the electricity produced in the United States comes directly from coal. In an electric power plant, coal, just like oil and natural gas, is burned so that it can produce heat. The heat is then used to transform water into steam. The steam subsequently moves the blades of a turbine, spinning the generator and it produces electricity. Previous to the coal being burned it is crushed and pulverized to a powdery consistency. Another large market of coal is in the industrial and retail uses. Amongst the industries that use coal, the leading consumers are chemical manufacturers, stone users, clay and glass, paper mills, main metal industries as well as the food industry. Industries utilize coal as a chemical feedstock to formulate dyes, insecticides, fertilizers, explosives, synthetic fibers, food preservatives, ammonia, synthetic rubber, fingernail polish, medicines, and many other things. One other large market of coal usage is the iron and steel industry, as it is used to make coke. Coke comes from bituminous coal by heating that is used in airtight ovens. The lack of air does not allow the coal to burn and turns some of the solids into gases leaving coke.