Industrial Fuels

  • Coal

    Coal is valued for its energy content, and, since the 1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. Coal comes from plant matter, so technically it’s not a true mineral and is a rock. Coal is extracted from the ground by mining, either underground by shaft mining through the seams or in open pits.

    SGT has excellent relationships with various coal mining companies and sources coal from Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Colombia and CIS countries. As geological processes apply pressure to dead biotic material over time, under suitable conditions it is transformed successively into following types of coal:



    • Anthracite

      The highest rank of coal, is a harder, glossy black coal used primarily for residential and commercial space heating. It may be divided further into metamorphically altered bituminous coal and petrified oil.


    • Bituminous

      Bituminous coal is a dense sedimentary rock, usually black but sometimes dark brown often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material, used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation, with substantial quantities used for heat and power applications in manufacturing and to make coke.


    • Sub-Bituminous Coal

      Properties range from those of lignite to those of bituminous coal, is used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation and is an important source of light aromatic hydrocarbons for the chemical synthesis industry.


    • Lignite

      Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal and used almost exclusively as fuel for electric power generation. Jetis a compact form of lignite that is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper.


    • Peat

      It’s considered to be a precursor of coal, has industrial importance as a fuel in some regions, In its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it more able to retain and slowly release water.


    • Steam Coal

      Steam coal is a grade between bituminous coal and anthracite, once widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives.


    Open Pit Coal Mining
  • Coke

    Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is human-made. Coke is concentrated coal from which most of the volatile matter has been expelled. It is used in blast furnaces and industrial furnaces, where it is mixed with iron ore to manufacture cast iron (an iron and carbon alloy that was a precursor of steel), through iron oxide reduction. Manufacturing coke, or coking, involves bringing a mixture of good quality coal types, coke paste, to a temperature of 1000°C, a process which requires arrays of dozens of 8m-high furnaces.


  • Uses of coke :

    Some important uses of coke are :

    • Coke is used as a domestic fuel.educing agent in metallurgical processes.

    • Coke is used for producing fuel gases such as water gas(CO+ H2) , and producer gas(CO + N2).

    • Coke is used for producing carbides such as calcium carbide(CaC2), Silicon carbide(SiC), Aluminum carbide(Al4C3).

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