Applied Coal Petrology

Chapter 8. Coal-Derived Carbon Materials

8.1. Introduction

Coal as a raw material (Chapter 1) is mainly used for the generation of power and in the iron and steel industry (Chapters 4 and 7). However, coal and its byproducts are also used in alumina refineries, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, and in other areas such as the manufacture of paper (World Coal Institute, 2005). The nonfuel applications of fossil fuel resources are mainly dominated by petroleum and its derivatives, but coal may also be employed as a source of organic chemicals and carbon-based materials (Song and Schobert, 1993, 1996; Schobert and Song, 2002). To obtain chemicals from coal, Schobert and Song (2002) have reported several strategies that include: (1) gasification ...