Fuel-energy industry

COAL INDUSTRY
The coal industry consists of the extraction of coal (in some cases enrichment, briquetting) and its delivery to the consumer. From the beginning of the century, coal began to meet 70% of human needs for fuel (now 20-25%).
Coal is currently mined in 60 countries around the world, but only 10 countries (China, USA, Russia, Germany, South Africa, India, Australia, Czech Republic, UK, Poland) produce more than 100 million tons per year coal mining. The largest coal basins in the world are Appalachian (USA), Donetsk (Ukraine), Kuznetsk (Russia), Upper Silesia (Poland), Ruhr (Germany), Fushun (PRC). 90% of the coal is used in the mining country, only 10% is exported. Coal exporting countries are the United States and South Africa.
The quality of mined coal is diverse in terms of the geological structure of individual areas and the different stages of coal formation processes. Coal and brown coal are different. The conversion of brown coal to hard coal depends on an increase in the amount of carbon. Coal is coking and non-coking. The Donetsk, Kuznetsk, Appalachian, Ruhr, Fushun, Karaganda and Pechora basins are rich in coking coal. Brown coal contains a lot of moisture and moisture, which reduces its heat transfer properties. Therefore, they are used as energy fuel and as a raw material in the chemical industry. Large brown coal basins are located in Russia (Moscow threshold, Chelyabinsk), Germany and China. Coal is mined in open, closed (mine), hydraulic and underground gasification methods.
The most advanced and preferred method of coal mining is to mine it in an open method, from quarries. In this way, workers extract 6 times more coal than a worker working underground. The bigger the career, the lower the cost.
Coal is mined in a closed (mine) method when it is very deep and the natural-geographical conditions are complex. Initially, coal was mined mainly in this way. Currently, cost-effective hydraulic coal mining is widely used. In many cases, even by converting coal directly into gas underground mined. The resulting gas is delivered directly to consumers through pipelines.