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The face of the US coal industry and its markets are changing. Environmental concerns over global warming and plant emissions are two factors that will continue to gain national attention and consequently will challenge the use of coal in the US within its traditional markets. The decline of coke production in the US has lead to high quality metallurgical-grade coal being used to generate electricity. One could argue this is a waste of a limited valuable resource. The debate over global warming and the generation of greenhouse gases, particularly CO{sub 2}, will undoubtedly negatively impact the use of coal in newly constructed power plants. What is the future of the US coal industry and the industries that benefit from coal? This paper will review the use of coal and coal-derived materials in new, non-fuel markets. It will review a new industrial consortium that has recently been formed to stimulate the use of coal in value-added carbon markets. One of the questions the reader should ask when reading this paper is: Is coal more valuable for its carbon content or its BTU content? Carbon materials such as carbon fibers, carbon-carbon composites, specialty and mechanical graphite, activated carbon, carbon black, and carbon foams may provide new markets for the coal industry. These markets are expanding and some of these markets are in their infancy. These new material applications offer an exciting, but little recognized, opportunity for the expanded use of coal.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 20034367
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 25th International Technical Conference on Coal Utilization and Fuel Systems, Clearwater, FL (US), 03/06/2000--03/09/2000; Other Information: PBD: 2000; Related Information: In: 25th international technical conference on coal utilization and fuel systems: Proceedings, by Sakkestad, B.A. [ed.], 969 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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