Anthracite Coals: An Overview

The book is comprehensive, dealing first with reserves of anthracite and with related petrography. Culm – anthracite waste – features frequently in the book. Actual and projected anthracite mining are discussed in turn and exploration also has its due place. As would be expected, power generation has major coverage as do gasification and carbonisation. Coal-bed methane production from anthracite is described, and anthracite in calcined form is covered as well as anthracite in briquetted form. Use of anthracite in the metals industry follows with some emphasis on anthracite as an alternative to coke. Non-thermal application of anthracites as filters and adsorbents then features, and later there is a return to the thermal theme when co-combustion processes and oxy-fuel processes involving anthracite are quantitatively explained. The book moves on to carbon products from anthracites, anthracite-water and anthracite-oil combinations and hazards (spontaneous heating and dust explosions) with anthracites. The remainder of the book is concerned with domestic use and with ashes and slags. There is a very vivid illustration as an appendix.