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Coal Mining: From the Ground to powering Your Home

Coal Mining: From the Ground to powering Your Home. David Herr Mark Bentley. Types of coal. 4 Main Types of Coal Anthracite Carbon content between 86 and 98 percent. Heat value of about 15,000 BTUs/lb. Bituminous

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Coal Mining: From the Ground to powering Your Home

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  1. Coal Mining: From the Ground to powering Your Home David Herr Mark Bentley

  2. Types of coal • 4 Main Types of Coal • Anthracite • Carbon content between 86 and 98 percent. Heat value of about 15,000 BTUs/lb. • Bituminous • Carbon content between 45 and 86 percent. Heat value of 10,500 to 15,500 BTUs/lb. • Subbituminous • Carbon content between 35 and 45 percent. Heat value of 8,300 to 13,000 BTUs/lb. • Lignite • Carbon content between 25 and 35 percent. Heat value of 4,000 to 8,300 BTUs/lb.

  3. How do we get coal out of the ground? • Surface Mining: • Typically occurs at depths above 180 ft. • Most common form in Wyoming • Underground Mining • Typically occurs at depths below 300 ft. • Accounts for 60% of world coal production

  4. Surface mining • 4 Main Types of Surface Mining • Strip Mining • Removal of large strips of overlying rock and soil to reveal coal. • Open-Pit Mining • Removal of rock and soil creating a vast pit where coal can be extracted. • Mountaintop Removal Mining • Removal of mountain tops with explosives. Land made flat after reclamation. • Highwall Mining • A continuous miner cuts holes horizontally into the coal formation.

  5. Where does the coal go after it leaves the mine? • The coal is shipped by train or barge to its destination. • The coal may be refined before shipping • Washing with water or a chemical bath to remove some impurities • When the coal arrives at the power plant, it is pulverized into a heavy powder that is suitable for burning.

  6. How is coal used at a power plant?

  7. How is electricity Measured? • Electricity is measured in units of power. • The basic unit of power is the watt (W) • W = J/s = (N x m)/s = (kg x m2)/s3 • Most power plants produce electricity in the scale of megawatts (MW)

  8. Power Plants Near Lander • Beaver Creek Gas Plant • Power generation – 5 MW • Boysen Power Plant • Power generation – 15 MW • Pilot Butte Power Plant • Power Generation – 1.6 MW • The average household in Wyoming consumes 896 kWh. These 3 plants combined generate enough electricity to run 17,360 homes

  9. Now lets do a Problem!!!

  10. What is nanotechnology? • The study of manipulating matter on an atomic or molecular scale. • Deals in the size range of 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). • Applications in many fields such as energy production, medicine, biomaterials, and electronics.

  11. Why nanotechnology is so advantageous? • Very high surface area to volume ratio (SA:V). • This is important for many chemical reactions.

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