The global growth in energy requirements for both power generation and steelmaking has lead to
an increase in demand for coal in these market sectors. The ever-increasing concerns of the
community about the impact of coal use on the environment have lead to the adoption of more
efficient and cleaner technologies for the use of coal.
As coal consumers strive for increased efficiency and better controls of gaseous and particle
emissions a better understanding of how the properties of a coal impacts on its performance in a
particular end use is required.
The world's vast resources of coal vary in both coal type and quality. While many end use
technologies can be adapted to suit a particular coal, the international trade of coal does allow coal
consumers to evaluate many potential coal supplies to minimise their coal use and therefore their
operating costs.
The aim of this document is to give an overview of end use technologies, the selection of coals for
those technologies and how coal performance is influence by both the physical process
environment and the properties of the coal. It is a work in progress and CoalTech welcomes
feedback or suggestions on how this site can be improved.
