What is coal made of? Message about coal

For almost 200 years, humanity has been using reserves that have been formed over hundreds of millions of years. Such wastefulness will one day lead us to collapse and an energy crisis until we begin to use our resources more carefully. For a better understanding, it would be worth finding out how coal was formed and how many years the proven reserves will last.

Energy demand

All industries need constant source of energy:

• Energy is released during the combustion of hydrocarbons. In this regard, oil and gas are irreplaceable resources.
• It is possible to obtain the required amount of energy from nuclear power plants. Atomic fission is a promising industry, but a couple of disasters have pushed this option into the background for a long time.
• Wind, sun and even water currents can provide electricity. With the proper approach to the issue and the construction of modern structures.

Some new and promising industries today practically do not develop and humanity is forced to continue to burn coal, smoke the sky and get crumbs of energy. This state of affairs is beneficial to large corporations that receive enormous income from the sale of combustible fuel.

Perhaps in the coming decades the situation will change at least a little and promising projects regarding alternative energy generation options will be given the green light. For now, we can only hope for the prudence of large investors who will prefer salvation from the energy crisis in the future to immediate benefits.

Where did coal come from?

Regarding coal formation, there is generally accepted scientific theory:

1. Somewhere between 300 and 400 million years ago, much more organic matter grew on Earth. We're talking about plants, giant green plants.
2. Like all living things, the plants died. Bacteria, at that stage, could not cope with the task of completely decomposing these giants.
3. In the absence of oxygen, entire layers of compressed and rotting ferns formed.
4. Over the passing millions of years, eras changed, other formations were layered on top, the original layer lay deeper and deeper.

There is an opinion that gradually all this substance was transformed into peat, which later turned into coal. Similar transformations are happening or could still be happening, from a theoretical point of view. But only in the presence of already formed peat, there is no longer a sufficient number of plants to form new layers on the Earth. Wrong era, wrong climatic conditions.

It is worth noting that the volume has changed very seriously. Losses during the transition from peat to coal alone amount to 90%, and it is still unknown what the initial volume of dead plants was.

Properties of coal

All properties of coal can be divided into those that are significant for nature and for humans:

But still, the main and most interesting fact for us is the fact that when coal burns, a sufficient amount of energy is released. Approximately 75% of what can be obtained by burning the same volume of oil.

Conservationists are concerned about a completely different property - ability to release carbon dioxide during combustion . Burn a kilogram of coal and you will release almost 3 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Global consumption already amounts to billions of tons of minerals, so the numbers are not at all funny.

Coal mining

In some countries, coal mines have long been closed:

• Low profitability. Today it is much more profitable to pump and sell oil and gas. Less costs, fewer possible consequences.
• High risk of accidents. Disasters in mines are not uncommon in modern world, even if all precautions are taken.
• Almost complete development of existing reserves. If the country began production back in the century before last and was always “fed” from one coal basin, one should not expect much from it in our time.
• Availability of alternative. We are talking not only about oil and gas; nuclear energy has also found its niche. Are being implemented solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric power stations operate. The process is slow but inevitable.

But someone is still forced to go down into the mine:

1. Mining occurs at a depth of up to 1 km, as a rule.
2. The cheapest way to mine coal is no deeper than 100 m, in which case it can be done using the open-pit method.
3. Shifts of miners, equipped with tools and respirators, constantly descend into the face.
4. The role of manual labor has decreased significantly; most of the work is done by machines.
5. Despite this, miners are constantly at risk of ending up under rubble and being buried in an improvised mass grave.
6. Constant exposure to dust causes respiratory problems. Pneumoconiosis officially recognized as an occupational disease.

In some ways such work is compensated by solid salaries and early retirement.

How did coal come about?

It took hundreds of millions of years for coal to form.

Here is how the process of its formation on Earth took place:

• Plants on the surface proliferated en masse, thanks to favorable climatic conditions.
• Gradually they died, and microorganisms did not have time to completely process the remains.
• The organic mass formed an entire layer. In some areas there was no access to oxygen, especially in swampy areas.
• Under anaerobic conditions, special microorganisms continued to take part in the processes of decay.
• New layers were layered on top, increasing the pressure.
• Due to the organic basis with a large amount of carbon, rotting, constant pressure and it took hundreds of millions of years for coal to form.

This is exactly how scientists see the whole process, based on modern methods studying.

Perhaps adjustments will be made to this picture in the future, time will tell. In the meantime, we can only believe her or voice some of our assumptions. But to be taken seriously, they will have to be proven.

It is not necessary to know how coal was formed to enjoy all the delights of scientific and technological progress. But for general development worth checking out.

Video about the appearance of coal on Earth

In this video, geologist Leonid Yaroshin will tell you how and where coal was formed, how it is mined and where it is currently used:

Almost 200 years ago, the brilliant Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov absolutely correctly explained the formation of fossil coal from plant remains, similar to how peat is formed now. Lomonosov also indicated the conditions necessary for the transformation of peat into coal: decomposition of vegetation “without free air,” high temperature inside the Earth and “heaviness of the roof,” i.e., rock pressure.

It takes a very long time for peat to turn into coal. Peat accumulates in the swamp, and from above the swamp is overgrown with more and more layers of plants. At depth, the peat is constantly changing. The complex chemical compounds that make up plants are broken down into simpler ones. One part dissolves and is carried away with water, the other goes into a gaseous state: carbon dioxide and illuminating gas - methane (the same gas burns in our stoves). Fungi and bacteria inhabiting all peat bogs play a major role in the formation of coal. They help break down plant tissue. During the process of these changes in peat, the most persistent substance accumulates in it - carbon. As peat changes, it becomes more and more rich in carbon.

The accumulation of carbon in peat occurs without access to oxygen, otherwise carbon, combining with oxygen, would turn completely into carbon dioxide and evaporate. The resulting layers of peat are first isolated from the oxygen of the air by the water covering them, then by the newly emerging layers of peat.

This is how the process of turning peat into fossil coal gradually occurs. There are several main types of fossil coal: lignite, brown coal, hard coal, anthracite, boghead, etc.

The most similar to peat is lignite - loose brown coal of not very ancient origin. The remains of plants, mainly wood, are clearly visible in it (hence the name “lignite”, which means “wooden”). Lignite is woody peat. In modern temperate peat bogs, peat is formed mainly from peat moss, sedge, and reeds, but in the subtropical zone globe, for example, in the forested swamps of Florida in the USA, woody peat is also formed, very similar to fossil lignite.

With greater decomposition and alteration of plant debris, brown coal is created. Its color is dark brown or black; it is stronger than lignite, wood remains are less common in it and are more difficult to discern. When burned, brown coal produces more heat than lignite because it is richer in carbon. Brown coal does not always turn into hard coal over time. It is known that brown coal from the Moscow basin is of the same age as hard coal on the western slope of the Urals (Kizelovsky basin). The process of turning brown coal into hard coal occurs only when layers of brown coal descend into deeper horizons earth's crust or mountain building processes occur. To transform brown coal into hard coal or anthracite, a very high temperature and high pressure are needed in the bowels of the Earth. In coal, plant remains are visible only under a microscope; it is heavy, shiny and often very strong. Some types of coal themselves or together with other varieties are coked, that is, they turn into coke.

The largest amount of carbon contains black shiny coal - anthracite. You can find plant remains in it only under a microscope. When burned, anthracite produces more heat than all other types of coal.

Boghead is a dense black coal with a conchoidal fracture surface; during dry distillation it produces a large amount of coal tar - a valuable raw material for chemical industry. Boghead is formed from algae and sapropel.

The longer coal lies in the earth's layers and the more it is exposed to pressure and deep heat, the more carbon it contains. Anthracite contains about 95% carbon, brown coal contains about 70%, and peat contains from 50 to 65%.

In the swamp, where peat initially accumulates, clay, sand and various dissolved substances usually fall along with water. They form mineral impurities in peat, which then remain in coal. These impurities often form interlayers that divide the coal layer into several layers. The impurity contaminates the coal and makes it difficult to mine.

When coal is burned, all mineral impurities remain in the form of ash. The better the coal, the less ash it should contain. IN good varieties There is only a few percent of coal, but sometimes the amount of ash reaches 30-40%. If the ash content is more than 60%, then the coal does not burn at all and is not suitable for fuel.

Coal seams are different not only in their composition, but also in structure. Sometimes the entire thickness of the seam consists of pure coal. This means that it was formed in a peat bog, where almost no water, contaminated with clay and sand, entered. Such coal can be burned immediately. More often, coal layers alternate with clay or sandy layers. Such coal seams are called complex. In them, for example, a layer 1 m thick often contains 10-15 layers of clay, each several centimeters thick, while pure coal accounts for only 60-70 cm; Moreover, the coal can be of very good quality.

To obtain fuel from coal with a low content of foreign impurities, coal is enriched. The rock from the mine is immediately sent to the processing plant. There, the rock extracted from the mine is crushed into small pieces in special machines, and then all clay lumps are separated from the coal. Clay is always heavier than coal, so the mixture of coal and clay is washed with a stream of water. The force of the jet is chosen such that it carries away the coal, while the heavier clay remains at the bottom. Then the water and coal are passed through a fine grate. The water drains, and the coal, already clean and free of clay particles, collects on the surface of the grate. This type of coal is called enriched coal. There will be very little ash left in it. It happens that the ash in coal turns out to be not a harmful impurity, but a mineral. For example, fine, clayey mud carried into a swamp by streams and rivers often forms layers of valuable fire-resistant clay. It is specially developed or the ash remaining after the combustion of coal is collected, and then used to make porcelain tableware and other products. Sometimes coal is found in the ashes.

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This pattern of coal layers is found everywhere:

Nazarovo coal mine. Two thin layers close to the surface

The main layer with brown coal does not look like a disordered mass with chaotically laid petrified trunks of ancient trees. The layer has clear strata - many layers. That is, the official version with ancient trees is not suitable. And it is also not suitable due to the high sulfur content in brown coal layers.

Table of contents of some chemical elements in coals, peat, wood and oil.

In order not to think about the meaning of the table, I will write conclusions from it.
1. Carbon. Wood contains the least amount of it among the listed fuel sources. And it is not clear (if we take into account the traditional version of the formation of coal) why the amount of carbon increases with the accumulation of organic matter (wood or peat) in the layers. A contradiction that no one explains.
2. Nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen compounds are one of the building elements of wood and vegetation. And why the amount of nitrogen decreased after the transformation of wood or peat into brown coal is again unclear. Again a contradiction.
3. Sulfur. Wood does not contain any quantity sufficient for the accumulation of this chemical element. Even in peat, sulfur is negligible compared to layers of brown and coal. Where does sulfur get into the layers? The only assumption is that there was sulfur in the layers initially. Mixed with organic matter? But somehow strangely the concentration of sulfur in coal coincides with the sulfur content in oil.

Typically, sulfur is pyrite, sulfate and organic. As a rule, pyrite sulfur predominates. Sulfur contained in coals is usually found in the form of magnesium, calcium and iron sulfates, iron pyrites (pyrite sulfur) and in the form of organic sulfur-containing compounds. As a rule, only sulfate and sulfide sulfur are determined separately; organic is defined as the difference between the amount of total sulfur in coal and the sum of sulfate and sulfide sulfur.

Sulfur pyrite is an almost constant companion of coal, and sometimes in such quantities that it is unfit for use (for example, coal from the Moscow basin).

According to these data, it turns out that the accumulation of organic matter (wood or peat) has nothing to do with coal. The formation of brown coals is an abiogenic process. But which one? Why are brown coals located relatively shallowly, while hard coals can be found at depths of up to two kilometers?

The next question is: where are all the fossils of flora and fauna in the lignite seams? They must be massive! Trunks, plants, skeletons and bones of dead animals - where are they?

Leaf prints are found only in overburden rocks:

Petrified fern. Such fossilized plants are found during coal mining. This specimen was mined during work at the Rodinskaya mine in Donbass. But we will return to these supposed fossils below.

This refers to waste rock from coal mines. I didn't find anything about brown coal.

Areas of coal formation. Most coal is found in the northern hemisphere, absent from the equator and the tropics. But there was the most acceptable climate for the accumulation of organic matter in ancient times. There are also no areas (in latitudinal form) of accumulation on the old equators. This distribution is clearly due to another reason.

One more question. Why was this mineral fuel not used in ancient times? There are no widespread descriptions of the mining and use of brown coal. The first mentions of coal date back only to the time of Peter I. Getting it (getting to the seam) is not at all difficult. This is done in a handicraft way by local residents in Ukraine:

There are also larger-scale open-pit coal mining:

Coal under 8-10 meters of clay. For the formation of coal, geologists say high pressure and temperature are needed. This clearly wasn't the case here.

Coal is soft and crumbles.

When digging wells, they had to come across layers and find out that they were burning. But history tells us about the beginning of mass coal mining only in the 19th century.

Or maybe these layers did not exist until the 19th century? As it was not in the mid-19th century. trees! See the desert landscapes of Crimea and photographs of Stolypin settlers who climbed into the remote corners of Siberia in convoys. And now there is impenetrable taiga. I'm talking about the 19th century version of the flood. Its mechanism is not clear (if it did exist). But let's return to brown coals.

What breed do you think this is? Brown coal? It looks like it, but they didn't guess right. These are tar sands.

Large-scale oil production from tar sands in Canada. Before the fall in oil prices, it was profitable, even profitable business. On average, four tons of bitumen produce only one barrel of oil.

If you don’t know, you won’t even think that oil is produced here. It looks like a brown coal mine.

Another example from Ukraine:

In the village of Starunya (Ivano-Frankivsk region), oil comes to the surface on its own, creating small volcanoes. Some oil volcanoes are burning!

Then it will all petrify and there will be a coal seam.

So where am I going with this? Moreover, during the cataclysm, the rupture of the earth, oil came out and spilled. But she did not petrify in the sands. And brown coal is probably the same thing, but in chalk or other deposits. There, the fraction before oil was less than sand. The stone state of the coals suggests that there are chalk layers involved. Perhaps some reactions took place and the layers turned into stone.

Even Wikipedia writes:
Fossil coal is a mineral, a type of fuel, formed both from parts of ancient plants, and largely from bitumen masses that poured out onto the surface of the planet, undergoing metamorphism due to sinking to great depths underground under high temperatures and without access to oxygen.
But the version of the abiogenic origin of brown coals from oil spills is not being developed anywhere else.

Some write that this version does not explain the many layers of brown coal. If we take into account that not only masses of oil, but also water and mud sources came to the surface, then alternation is quite possible. Oil and bitumen are lighter than water - they floated on the surface and were deposited and adsorbed on the rock in the form of thin layers. Here is an example in a seismically active zone in Japan:

Water comes out of the cracks. It is, of course, not deep, but what prevents the waters of artesian sources or underground oceans and upon exiting, throw onto the surface masses of rocks ground into clay, sand, lime, salt, etc. Set aside strata for short period, not millions of years. I am increasingly inclined to think that in some places at certain times the flood could have been caused not by the passage of a wave from the ocean, but by the release of water and mud masses from the bowels of the Earth.

Sources:
http://sibved.livejournal.com/200768.html
https://new.vk.com/feed?w=wall178628732_2011
http://forum.gp.dn.ua/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2210
http://chispa1707.livejournal.com/1698628.html

A separate issue is the formation of coal

Comment in one of the articles from jonny3747 :
Coal in the Donbass is most likely a displacement of plates one under another, along with all the forests, ferns, etc. I myself worked at depths of more than 1 km. The layers lie at an angle, as if one plate was creeping under another. Between the coal and rock layers there are very often imprints of plants; quite a few caught my eye. And what’s interesting is that between the hard rock and the coal there is a thin layer that is not yet rock, but not yet coal, it crumbles in your hands, unlike the rock it has dark color and that’s where the prints were often found.

This observation fits very clearly with the growth process of pyrographite in these layers. Most likely, the author saw these:

Remember the fern fossils in the photos above

Here are excerpts from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen” and the work “History of the Earth without the Carboniferous Period”:

Based on their own research and a number of works by other scientists, the authors state:
"Considering recognized role deep gases, ... the genetic relationship of natural carbonaceous substances with juvenile hydrogen-methane fluid can be described as follows.
1. From gas phase S-O-N systems(methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide) can be synthesized... carbonaceous substances - both in artificial conditions and in nature...
5. Pyrolysis of methane diluted with carbon dioxide under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of liquid... hydrocarbons, and in nature to the formation of the entire genetic series of bituminous substances.”

CH4 → Sgraphite + 2H2

During the decomposition of methane in the depths, complex hydrocarbons are formed in a completely natural way! This happens because it turns out to be energetically beneficial! And not only gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons, but also solid ones!
Methane is still constantly “oozing” into coal mining areas. It may be residual. Or it may also be evidence of the continuation of the process of influx of hydrocarbon vapors from the subsurface.

Well, now the time has come to deal with the “main trump card” of the version of the organic origin of brown and hard coal - the presence of “carbonized plant residues” in them.
Such “coalified plant residues” are found in huge quantities in coal deposits. Paleobotanists “confidently identify the plant species” in these “remains.”
It is on the basis of the abundance of these “remains” that the conclusion was made about almost tropical conditions in vast regions of our planet and the conclusion about the violent flourishing of flora in the Carboniferous period.
But! When producing pyrolytic graphite by pyrolysis of methane diluted with hydrogen, it was found that dendritic forms, very similar to “plant residues,” are formed in stagnant zones away from the gas flow.

Samples of pyrolytic graphite with “vegetable patterns” (from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

The simplest conclusion that follows from the above photographs of “carbonized plant forms”, which in fact are only forms of pyrolytic graphite, will be this: paleobotanists now need to think hard!..

And the scientific world continues to write dissertations on the origin of coals based on the biological accumulation of layers

1. Hydride compounds in the bowels of our planet disintegrate when heated (see the author’s article “Does the fate of Phaethon await the Earth?..”), releasing hydrogen, which, in full accordance with Archimedes’ law, rushes upward - to the surface of the Earth.
2. On its way, hydrogen, due to its high chemical activity, interacts with subsoil matter, forming various compounds. Including such gaseous substances as methane CH4, hydrogen sulfide H2S, ammonia NH3, water vapor H2O and the like.
3. Under conditions of high temperatures and in the presence of other gases included in the subsurface fluids, methane undergoes a stage-by-stage decomposition, which, in full accordance with the laws of physical chemistry, leads to the formation of gaseous hydrocarbons, including complex ones.
4. Rising both along existing cracks and faults in the earth’s crust, and forming new ones under pressure, these hydrocarbons fill all the cavities accessible to them in geological rocks. And due to contact with these colder rocks, gaseous hydrocarbons transform into a different phase state and (depending on the composition and environmental conditions) form deposits of liquid and solid minerals - oil, brown and hard coal, anthracite, graphite and even diamonds.
5. In the process of formation of solid deposits, in accordance with the still far from being studied laws of self-organization of matter, under appropriate conditions, the formation of ordered forms occurs - including those reminiscent of the forms of the living world.

And another very curious detail: before the Carboniferous Period - at the end of Devonian - the climate was quite cool and arid, and after - at the beginning of Permian - the climate was also cool and arid. Before the “Carboniferous Period” we have a “red continent”, and after we have the same “red continent”...
The following logical question arises: was there a warm “Carboniferous Period” at all?!

The non-million-year age of coal and lignite layers explains a number of strange artifacts found in coals:

An iron mug found in coal 300 million years old.

Gear rack in coal

Mikhailo Lomonosov, the famous Russian scientist of the 18th century, back in those ancient times gave a definition of how this mineral arose in nature. Namely: from the remains of plants, like peat, coal also originated. His education, according to Lomonosov, was determined by several factors. Firstly, the remains of vegetation decomposed without the participation of “free air” (that is, without free access to oxygen). Secondly, there was a fairly high temperature regime. And thirdly, the “heaviness of the roof” played a role, that is, the increased pressure of the rock. This happened in time immemorial, when humanity did not yet exist on planet Earth.

Things from days gone by

In any case, the history of the formation of coal is a matter of such distant days that modern scientists can only make guesses and assumptions to explain the process. But today this has been studied quite accurately. And the mechanisms of how it appears (its formation from preliminary raw materials) are known to science.

From peat

Waste higher plants gradually turn into peat masses that accumulate on marshy areas and are overgrown with other plants, gradually going deeper. Being at depth, peat bogs constantly change their chemical composition(more complex compounds turn into simpler ones and disintegrate). Some of them are dissolved in water and washed away, and some go into a gaseous state. This is how methane and carbon dioxide arise in the swamps, which give the characteristic smell of the air in these deserted places. An important function in this process is performed by fungi and bacteria, which contribute to the further decomposition of the tissue of dead plants.

Carbons

Over time, in the process of ongoing modifications, the most stable hydrocarbon compounds accumulate in peatlands. And since all this saturation of peat masses with hydrocarbons is carried out practically without access to oxygen, the carbon does not turn into gas and does not volatilize. Isolation from air and simultaneous saturation occurs with increased pressure: coal is formed from peat. Its formation lasts hundreds of thousands of years, this process is not so fast! According to scientists, most of The current reserves and coal seams arose in the Paleozoic, that is, more than 300 million years ago.

But that is not all!

Nature has decreed that anthracite, itself the densest coal with the highest carbon content (95 percent or higher), is not the final stage of transformations that occur with plant remains in environment. Shungite is a substance that is formed from coal under even more severe conditions. Graphite occurs when high temperatures from the same material. And if you add super-high pressure, then a diamond is formed, the most durable substance, which has both industrial and artistic value for all mankind.

But we should remember: oddly enough, all these seemingly different substances - from plants to diamonds - consist of the substance carbon, only with a different structure at the molecular level!

Formation and significance of coal

The importance of coal for the development of industry and, in general, for all human culture on Earth cannot be overestimated. And the scope of its application is very wide. Not to mention the fact that coal is an excellent fuel used for heating homes, heating furnaces in industry, and generating electricity; a lot of substances needed by people are also extracted from coal. Sulfur and vanadium, zinc and lead, germanium - all this gives humanity this mineral.

Coal is used for smelting metal, steel, and cast iron. Coal combustion products are used in the production of some building materials. When the fossil is specially processed, benzene is obtained from it, which is used in the production of varnishes and solvents, such building material like linoleum. Coal liquefied using special technologies produces liquid fuel for machinery. Coal is feedstock for the production of graphite and industrial diamonds, and everything based on this natural material manufacture more than four hundred products for industry and the service sector.

Natural history at school: formation of coal

For children, when studying the corresponding topic in middle school, it is recommended to talk about the formation of coal in nature in an accessible form. How long this process takes should be reported. Describing the formation of coal briefly, you need to focus on its significance for the development of industry and progress in modern and historical conditions, and draw up a plan for the message that students will make independently.

The periods of accumulation and active use of fossil coal are incommensurate with the period of human existence. Coal deposits accumulated over millions of years are tens or hundreds of millions of years old; Active use of coal began less than 270 years ago. At the current rate of coal mining, proven coal reserves will last approximately 500 years.

Combustible stone - fossil coal - was known in ancient times. Its primitive mining took place in ancient China and ancient Greece, where it was used as fuel. Ancient Roman villas were heated with coal from the deposits of Greece and Italy. Although the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle compared some properties of charcoal and fossil coal, for many centuries there was an opinion about the mineral origin of fossil coals. So, in 315 BC, Aristotle’s student Theophrastus called them “burning stones” - “anthrax” (hence the name “anthracite”). In the 16th century AD, the physician and alchemist Paracelsus considered natural coals as “stones modified by the action of volcanic fire,” and the naturalist Agricola (Fig. 7.1) said that coal is solidified oil.

Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov, in his treatise “On the Layers of the Earth” (1763), put forward a hypothesis about the origin of fossil coal from peat, and peat from accumulations of plant remains at the bottom of swamps. The organic origin of fossil coals was finally proven only in the 19th century through microscopic studies, which revealed charred or partially decomposed remains of plant tissue, resin grains, seeds, and spores in the structure of the coal substance.

There are coal deposits on all continents of the Earth and most islands of the World Ocean. The discovery of each of them has its own history.

There is various information about the extraction and use of coal in Ukraine. Yes, when geological research dumps of ancient coal mining were discovered in the area of ​​the city of Bakhmut (now the city of Artemovsk), indicating that already in the 9th–10th centuries. the local population mined it and used it as fuel in the production of various household items.

IN Western Europe coal came into use later. Until the 17th century, exclusively charcoal was used for metal smelting. The rapid development of metallurgy in

George Agricola (1494–1555), real name Bauer is a German scientist in the field of geology, mining and metallurgy, and naturalist. In 1527–1530 he worked in St. Joachimsthal (Bohemia) as a doctor and pharmacist. Here he became acquainted with mining assay analysis and smelting techniques, and acquired extensive knowledge of mineralogy, geology, mining and metallurgy. In 1530 G. Agricola published his first written in Latin book “Bermannus. Mining Talk,” which focused primarily on silver mining and “experience with minerals.” Agricola's next scientific work deals mainly with the development of ore deposits, metal smelting, salt mining and mining machines. This monograph, consisting of 12 books, was published in 1556, a few months after his death, under the title “On Mining and Metallurgy” (De re metallica, libri XII). For more than two hundred years, this work on mining, richly illustrated with beautiful drawings (see, for example, Fig. 7.2) - almost three hundred woodcuts - was the main textbook for miners and metallurgists.

The 18th century required a large amount of fuel, so industrial wood reserves were sharply reduced. Fossil coal could become a replacement for charcoal.

This time included intensified searches for fossil coal deposits in various countries. The history of the beginning of coal consumption in Veli is interesting

The beginning of the development of Donbass is associated with the foresight of Peter I, who drew attention to samples of local coal during the Azov campaign in 1696. According to legend, Peter I said: “This mineral, if not for us, then for our descendants, will be very useful.” In 1722, he signed a decree establishing the Donetsk coal basin. It is interesting that by the end of the 17th century, coal was still practically not used in European industry, and no more than 150 people were employed in all English coal mining, so Peter’s decision was a brilliant guess.

UK. As one of the English newspapers wrote a hundred years ago: “It was at the beginning of the 14th century. London brewers, blacksmiths and metalworkers, seeing the increasing cost of firewood, tried to burn coal instead, which turned out to be both very convenient and very profitable. But the superstitious townspeople considered the burning of coal to be an unholy act. A special petition was submitted to the king, and the use of coal was prohibited by law. However, due to the high cost of firewood, many secretly continued to break the law, so the townspeople demanded draconian measures. It is certain that one lawbreaker in London was executed, but it is said that there were many such cases. Then the strict laws were repealed, but for a long time there was a strong prejudice against coal due to the “stench of this type of fuel.”

Ladies especially rebelled against coal; many London ladies refused to enter houses that were not heated with wood, and did not touch any dish if it was cooked on coal, considering such dishes unclean.

And now coal constitutes the strength and wealth of England, an inevitable condition of modern civilization itself.”

Times have changed and the British attitude towards coal has changed, as a result of which the following tradition has appeared. Among the English (especially the Scots), on New Year's Eve, the first person to cross the threshold of the house should be a tall, black-haired man with silver coin and a piece of coal. And then in the New Year there will never be a shortage of food in the house, it will always be warm and cozy.

In Russia, the industrial use of coal instead of charcoal arose at the beginning of the 18th century. The first reliable information about the search and exploration of fossil coals in Russia also refers to early XVII I century

Under Peter I, who paid great attention to the development of mining, special expeditions were organized to various regions of the country.

In the Donetsk basin, coal deposits were discovered in 1721 in the areas of Bakhmut, Lisichansk, and Shakhty.

There is a dispute between historians about the discoverers of coal in the Donbass. For a long time it was believed that the discoverer of coal in the Donetsk basin was Grigory Kapustin (Fig. 7.3), who in 1721 discovered deposits in the area of ​​the Don, Kurdyuchey and Oseredi rivers.

However, according to archival materials, in the same 1721, Bakhmut salt workers Nikita Vekreisky and Semyon Chirkov found coal in the Skelevataya gully, 25 km from Bakhmut, and began to use it in forges. And in Lisichya Balka, where the first mine in the Donbass came into operation in 1796, a coal deposit was discovered in December 1722 by Nikolai Avramov, one of the leaders of the Black Sea mining expedition.

Grigory Grigoryevich Kapustin is a clerk in the village of Danilovsky, former Kostroma district. Having examined the areas of the Upper and Middle Don, Kapustin then carried out coal exploration in the coastal strip of the Seversky Donets (Fig. 7.4). Local villagers, mainly Zaporozhye Cossacks, told him that they had been using combustible stone in their forges for a long time, and showed them their coal mines. At the beginning of January 1722, Grigory Kapustin reported on the results of the expedition:

“The ore clerk Grigory Kapustin informs you that I removed coal from the Donetsk land near the Kundryuchya river. Please accept it and try it in the laboratory.”

The Berg College, on whose instructions the expedition was carried out and which consisted mainly of foreigners, did not classify Kapustin’s discovery as having industrial significance.

But in January 1724, Peter the Great received a denunciation from the Bakhmut steward Nikita Vepreysky and captain Semyon Chirkov, in which they reported that with coal mined in the vicinity of Lisya Balka, Bakhmut artisans boil salt and make various blacksmith forgings, and residents of nearby settlements use combustible stone for heating homes.

It was then that, in pursuit of Grigory Kapustin, the Berg College sent an urgent dispatch, in which the next route of the expedition was changed and ordered to visit the banks of the Seversky Donets and Verkhnyaya Belenkaya rivers.

Experiencing shortages of food and money, the expedition of Grigory Kapustin in the fall of 1724, overcoming all difficulties, studied near the Belenkaya River, in Lisya Balka, an unprecedented layer of coal 1.14 meters high. It was a "eureka" in coal mining that surprised foreign mining engineers.

Grigory Kapustin’s message about the coal deposits he found in the Donbass in the conditions of noble serf Russia did not immediately become the basis for the industrial development of rich deposits in the south of the country, although he persistently fought for fastest use their discoveries.

Only seventy years later, the first coal mine in the Donbass was founded in Lisya Balka. Here, in Lisichansk, the industrial development of coal began for the first time.

Expeditions sent to other regions of Russia also made a number of discoveries. In 1721, a coal deposit was discovered on the Tom River (Kuzbass). The discovery of the Moscow basin, as well as deposits in the area of ​​​​the city of Kizel in the Urals, dates back to the same year. In 1722–1723 The St. Petersburg Berg College received many reports about coal seams in the areas of the Don and Dnieper rivers.

The development of the metallurgical industry in many countries had a huge impact on the intensive search and development of coal deposits. In particular, the development of the Donetsk basin is closely connected with the construction of the Lugansk iron foundry, processing local ores, which was put into operation in 1799. Simultaneously with the start of the construction of the plant, coal mines were laid, primarily near the village of Bely, and then at a richer deposit on the right bank Seversky Donets in Lisicha Balka (Lisichansk). The Lisichansky mine remained the main coal mining enterprise in the Donbass until the end of the 60s of the 19th century, i.e. before the construction of larger mines began in its central regions.

The decree of Peter I dated December 7, 1722 has been preserved: “To dig coal and ores, which the scribe Kapustin announced, send a messenger from the Berg College and in those places of that coal and ores dig three fathoms or more deep and, having accumulated pood to five, bring it to the Bergkollegium and try it out.”

Similarly, coal deposits began to be developed in other coal-mining countries.

Ancient naturalists considered the ability to burn to be the main distinguishing feature of fossil coals. Therefore, the chronology of the discovery of coal by mankind is connected with the chronology of development technological processes, in which coal is used primarily as fuel. Probably, the ancient Chinese were the first to use coal as fuel: according to some information, in one of the largest coal regions of China, Funshui, it was used to smelt copper 3 thousand years ago. Chinese treatises of the 2nd century BC are known, which mention the use of coal in the production of porcelain, for evaporation of salt solutions, etc. According to the famous traveler Marco Polo, who visited China in 1310, coal was widely used in industry and for heating. Around the same time, there are references to the use of coal as fuel in England and Germany and to the establishment of the first coal mines in England.

However, even at the end of the 17th century, the extent of coal production and use in Europe was negligible. Thus, in the coal mining region of England (Bristol), only 123 people worked in 70 mines. This was due to the fact that, although significantly superior to firewood in terms of heat of combustion and developed temperature, coal is still inferior to them in a number of technological characteristics - ignition temperature, sulfur content - and, unlike dry firewood, smokes. Therefore, while there were enough forests in Europe, and the population density and level of industrial development were low, they preferred to make do with firewood for heating, wood tar and resin as binders, and charcoal as a fuel and ore reducer in metallurgy.

It is believed that the beginning of the use of coal in the chemical-technological direction was laid by the work of the chemist I. Becher, who in 1681 received a patent for “ new method making coke and tar from peat and coal, which had never been discovered or used by anyone before.” This was the heat treatment of coal without air access with the distillation of volatiles and sulfur, turning it into coke. I. Becher describes his invention as follows: “In Holland there is peat, in England there is coal, but both are almost never used for combustion in blast furnaces and for smelting. I have found a way to turn both into good fuel, which not only does not smoke or stink, but also produces the same strong fire necessary for smelting as charcoal... At the same time, it is worthy of attention: how the Swedes get their resin from pine trees, so I got my resin in England from coal, which is equal to Swedish in quality, and even some coals are higher than it. I carried out tests both on wood and on ropes, and the resin turned out to be quite good...” In the same 17th century, the Englishman D. Dodley conducted experimental blast furnace smelting on fossil coal, but he kept the details of the process secret and took it with him to grave.

The discoveries of I. Becher and D. Dodley did not spread during their lifetime. Meanwhile, in order to supply blast furnaces and forges with charcoal, forests were rapaciously destroyed. In order to preserve them, the English Parliament back in 1558–1584. issued a number of decrees limiting the growth and location of metallurgical enterprises. Nevertheless, the need for metal quickly increased, and by the beginning of the 17th century, many forests in Europe were completely destroyed. In more industrially developed countries - England, Germany, Holland, France - firewood and charcoal have become literally worth their weight in gold, which sharply slowed down the development of industry and forced an intensive search for alternative fuel.

The first reliable information about organized searches and exploration of minerals, in particular coal, in Russia dates back to the reign of Peter I.

By decree of Peter I in 1719, the Berg Collegium (Berg Privilege) was organized, which was entrusted with the management of the country's mining industry and mineral exploration. The Berg College attracted the population “both on their own and on foreign lands to search, dig, smelt, cook and clean all kinds of metals... and all kinds of earth ores and stones.”

First statistics on coal production for 1796–1801. indicate that in these years 2.4 thousand tons of coal were mined, in 1810 - 2.5 and in 1820 - 4.1 thousand tons of coal.

Back in 1757 M.V. Lomonosov, in his “Tale on the Birth of Metals,” expressed a hypothesis about the plant origin of coal and was the first to put forward the idea that coal was formed from peat. This idea later formed the basis of the now generally accepted “theory of transformations.” The first work on the study of hard coal under a microscope belongs to the mining engineer-captain Ivanitsky (1842), who wrote: “The plant origin of hard coal is undoubtedly and can almost be considered proven. It is based on the gradual transition from peat and brown coal to the most crystalline types of coal and anthracite.”

The beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe is quite rightly associated with the “discovery” of fossil coal for use in industry, which occurred 50–80 years after the discoveries of I. Becher. In 1735 in England, A. Derby used coal, or more precisely, coke, obtained by burning coal in so-called “heaps”, where approximately a third of the coal was burned and two-thirds turned into coke, as fuel and a reducing agent for smelting metal in blast furnaces ovens In 1763, J. Watt in England, and 20 years after that, I. Polzunov in Russia, invented a steam engine where fossil coal was used as fuel. In the same 1763, the French metallurgists Zhara in Lüttich (Belgium) and Janzen in the Saar region built the first coke batteries with the production of metallurgical coke and the capture of coking tar. Finally, in 1792, the Englishman W. Murdoch not only repeated the 180-year-old experiments of the Dutch naturalist J.B. van Galmont to produce combustible gas from coal, but also equipped his house in Redruth with gas lighting. This determined the main areas of use of fossil coal: fuel (for steam boilers and domestic needs); fuel and reducing agent (coke for metal smelting); raw materials for the production of liquid and gaseous products, in turn used as fuel or chemical raw materials.

The leading role in the introduction of gas lighting in cities was played at the beginning of the 19th century by the Englishman F.-A. Vanzor. Perhaps it was easier for him to solve technical issues than to overcome social prejudices. Thus, the famous English writer W. Scott wrote about Vanzor: “One madman proposes to illuminate London - with what do you think? Imagine - smoke ... "The newspapers were full of statements that artificial lighting violates divine laws, according to which there should be darkness at night; that illuminated streets will contribute to an increase in drunkenness, depravity of the population and colds (meaning night revelers); that with the new lighting horses will be frightened and thieves will become insolent... Despite this, in 1812 the English Parliament approved the establishment of the world's first "London and Westminster Company for Gas Lighting and Coke Production", in 1816 the first gas plant was opened in the USA , in 1820 - in France, in 1835 - in Russia. In 1885, England consumed about 2.5 billion m 3 of lighting gas and slightly less coal gas as a domestic fuel for cooking.

TO early XIX century, the development of the production of coke for metallurgy, on the one hand, and illuminating gas, on the other, further increased the amount of coal tar produced and intensified work on research into the possibilities of its use. In 1815, the English chemist Accum began to obtain light oils from resin - essences that found use as solvents and substitutes for wood turpentine. In 1822, in England, the first tar distillation plant began producing light coal tar - naphtha - for impregnation of waterproof fabrics and raincoats. In 1825, the great English physicist and chemist M. Faraday isolated benzene from coal processing products, which laid the foundation for the chemistry of aromatic compounds. In 1842, Russian chemist N.N. Zinin discovered methods for the industrial production of coal tar aniline, an important intermediate product in the synthesis of artificial dyes. This discovery was practically used only in 1856, when the English student V. Perkin, processing aniline, obtained the first artificial organic dye - mauvais - and quickly organized the production of a number of synthetic dyes in his homeland.

It would seem, what impact could the invention of incandescent grids in gas lamps have on coal chemistry? But the fact is that benzene had not been extracted from raw gas before: only its presence provided satisfactory lighting brightness. And after this invention, which made it possible to use gas “depleted” of benzene for lighting, it became possible to industrially extract raw benzene from coal gas. The German Brunk is considered the “father” of industrial crude benzene. Largely thanks to him, over the last decade of the 19th century, Germany increased the production of crude benzene from coal processing by 50 times.

Currently, the world demand for crude benzene and other liquid coal chemical products is not covered by their production from coking and semi-coking coal. Therefore, a number of countries (Austria, Estonia, Israel, etc.) obtain them from their oil shale. The cost of coal chemical products obtained from oil shale is several times higher than the cost of the feedstock. Shale oil contains the gasoline-kerosene fraction even in a larger proportion than coal tar, and therefore, for example, Australia plans in the future to completely replace imported oil with local oil shale.

Coal reigned supreme as a fuel for power plants until the invention of engines. internal combustion, using petroleum products and much more convenient for mobile use. By the end of the first third of the 20th century, coal was not only completely replaced by petroleum products from road and air transport, but also noticeably lost its position in water and railway transport. However, under the conditions of the oil blockade that Germany was subjected to during the Second World War, and in post-war years– South Africa, coal turned out to be a raw material that can replace liquid motor fuels. Synthetic liquid fuels were obtained from coal by hydrogenation (direct liquefaction), pyrolysis, coal gasification, followed by catalytic Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Although economic indicators synthetic fuels were more expensive than oil fuels and with the lifting of the blockade their production, as a rule, ceased; the gradual depletion of oil reserves and the steady increase in prices for petroleum products forced further development in this direction. In particular, in Ukraine, the most favorable for the production of synthesis fuels are Dnieper brown coals, Lviv-Volyn sapropelites and Boltysh oil shale.

Despite all the variety of uses of fossil coals, their main consumers to this day are thermal power engineering, metallurgy, and rural areas and developing countries – and the housing sector. And the more coal consumption grew in these sectors, the more acute the contradiction became between the ratio of the required and received grades of coal, as well as between the output during mining and the consumption of graded fractions and ungraded fine coal. Therefore, since the end of the 19th century, an intensive search has been carried out for methods to eliminate these contradictions, and not without success.

For example, of all brands of coal with coking properties, i.e. When heated without air access, the ability to not only release volatile substances and sulfur, but also to sinter into a monolith with a given porosity and mechanical properties, is possessed only by grades Zh (fat) and K (coke), the share of which in the total production volume is relatively small and not meets the needs of coke production. Research into the nature and nature of plasticization and subsequent hardening of coals, begun in the 20s of the twentieth century by F. Fischer and subsequently developed by G.L. Stadnikov, D. van Krevelen, N.S. Gryaznov, allowed not only to create a harmonious theory of plasticization, but also to establish the possibility of obtaining coking charges (mixtures) from coals of lower (gas, long-flame gas) and higher (lean sintering) degrees of metamorphism, which almost doubled the raw material base for the production of metallurgical coke.

The poisonous gases that proved so horrific on the battlefields of the First World War were obtained from coal. But on the basis of coal, although initially charcoal, a means of protection against them was made. The medicinal qualities of charcoal were described by Hippocrates 400 BC, but only in 1785 a prominent Russian chemist and pharmacist, Academician T.E. Lovitz showed that they are a consequence of its absorbing, or adsorption, properties. Lovitz not only laid the foundations for the theory of adsorption, but also effectively used charcoal to purify and decolorize sugar syrups and molasses, drinking water, raw saltpeter, and even alcohol.

During the First World War, Russian professor N.D. Zelinsky invented methods for activating charcoal with water vapor and organic substances and successfully used activated carbon in gas masks. Currently, industry consumes many thousands of tons of technical activated carbons, mainly for wastewater treatment. These technical adsorbents are obtained by activating not wood, but fossil coals.

The layer method of burning coal, which was the only method for stoves, fireplaces, steam engines and early steam boilers, required the use of lump coal (a very small proportion of fines was allowed). This is due to the fact that with natural draft between the coal particles in the layer there should be enough space for free access of the oxidizer, and with forced draft (blowing) small particles should not be carried out of the layer. During the period when coal was mined by hand, the required share of lump coal during mining was provided by miners. At the same time, the seam was not completely removed, and the labor productivity of the miners was low. The increase in production caused by increased consumption, which became possible only with the mechanization of mines, sharply increased the share of fines in the volume of mined coal. But burning solid fuel, which in its size does not meet the optimal requirements, reduces the efficiency of its use by 15–20%, and in some cases the combustion process stops altogether. In this regard, the task arose of agglomerating (briquetting) fine coal for technologies based on the consumption of lump (high-grade) coal, and in parallel, the task of developing technologies where it is possible to use fine coal and dust without agglomerating them.

Typically, peat, brown coal, screenings of hard coal and anthracite, fine-grained semi-coke and coke are subjected to briquetting. The main consumers of briquettes are the municipal sector and the coke industry. Historically, two methods of producing briquettes mechanically were the first to emerge: without binders (due to the own binding properties of peat and brown coal) at a temperature of 40–80°C and a pressing pressure of 80 MPa or more; with the addition of a binder (petroleum bitumen or coal tar pitch) necessary to ensure adhesion between particles of hard coal, anthracite, semi-coke and coke breeze, at a temperature of 80–100°C and a pressing pressure of 15–25 MPa.

The history of domestic coal briquette production dates back to the middle of the 19th century. In 1870, the first factory was built in Odessa, producing anthracite briquettes for merchant fleet ships. In the 20th century, briquetting factories for anthracite pellets were put into operation in the Donbass (Mospinskaya, Donetskaya, etc.), as well as large brown coal briquette factories at the Alexandria brown coal deposit.

In recent decades, the field of briquetting with heat treatment of the initial coal fines or briquettes at temperatures of 400–500°C has been actively developing in the world. These technologies make it possible to obtain so-called “smokeless” household fuel of increased environmental purity (with a reduced sulfur content and less smoky when burned), as well as molded coke, which further expands

It is the fuel base for the coke industry.

The use of fossil coals as fuel increased immeasurably with the advent of steam engines and, especially, with the advent of machines capable of converting the thermal energy of burning coal into electricity (the first thermal power plants - TPPs). At thermal power plants, the thermal energy of coal is used to generate steam in a boiler, which rotates a steam turbine rotor connected to the rotor of an electrical energy generator - the most convenient type of energy for the consumer. The first thermal power plants appeared at the end of the 19th century (in 1882 - in New York, in 1883 - in St. Petersburg, in 1884 - in Berlin, in 1895 - in Kyiv). They were equipped with layer fireboxes, which long time were the main devices for burning large quantities fuel and were widely used for boilers with a steam output of 20–30 t/h. However, in addition to the scale limitation and low efficiency associated with the relatively low temperature flue gases, their main disadvantage was the requirement to supply coal in the form of lumps and the limitation of the share of fines, which led to large carbon carryover from the combustion volume.

The situation changed at the end of the 20s of the twentieth century, when in a number of countries furnaces for flaring solid fuel in a powdered state were developed and introduced, which made it possible to include fine coal, including high ash content (up to 25–30%), in the fuel base of thermal power plants – for anthracite and lean coals, up to 30–40% for hard coals), earthy brown coals, shale, and also increase the efficiency of power units to 35–40%. Thus, currently, mainly low-grade coals and ungraded fines are sent to the energy sector, which frees up graded coals for other uses.

Although pulverized coal, or chamber, furnaces are the most common in thermal power engineering today, they are increasingly being replaced by circulating fluidized bed (CFB) furnaces invented in the 60s of the twentieth century in Germany, which also use fine coal, but have a number of technological and environmental advantages.

property Circulating fluidized bed boilers are characterized by low emissions of nitrogen oxides (due to low temperature process and organization of the in-furnace reduction zone) and sulfur (due to the in-furnace binding of coal sulfur with limestone), a wide range of load control, and most importantly, reduced requirements for the ash content of coal, which makes it possible to use not only high-ash raw coal for combustion, but also coal preparation waste. The first power unit in Ukraine with a circulating fluidized bed with an electrical capacity of 210 MW, using anthracite slurry as fuel, is being put into operation at Starobeshivska TPP.