Coal Research Forum_Minerals and Coal Mining Concerns, Efforts and Progress Tackling Global Energy and GHG-CO2 Emissions Challenges

Today, I wish to take a couple of minutes of your time to bring to the fore the Advanced and Mature Minerals and Mining Communities concerns and efforts, pitting their wits to face the global energy and greenhouse gas emissions challenges represented here by the focus on CO2.

I shall largely base my enquiry upon the rich resource offered by the Coal Research Forum (CRF).

Such is the abundance of high quality freely available online CRF contributions, that, I can only trust many of you, globally will help me read, digest and bring the best "Options For the Future for a Global Future " to the fore.

In previous posts, I started to dress the Venn Diagramme presentation, whose focus is CO2-GHG reduction , posting briefly, too briefly on the green power field or universe, and on the planetary UN-blue metallurgical, materials science, industries and markets field_universe. Now we shall take a rapid look at things from the coal, minerals and mining perspective.

To help a reader new to the field come to grips rapidly with these issues, I find the divisional structure of the forum useful cf below.

Divisions

1. Advanced Power Generation.
2. Coal Characterisation.
3. Coal Conversion.
4. Coal Preparation.
5. Combustion.
6. Environment.
Divisions, Division Chairmen and contact details

Conference Meeting Titles and the freely available Online Papers are obviously of incredible assistance. Main Title Headings and full links to papers are given below.
-Coal Preparation Division Seminar.
- EU Conferences on Coal Research and its Applications
-Industrial perspective.
-Research Events
-Combustion/Coal Characterisation/Coal Conversion Divisional Meeting.
-Understanding the Low Carbon Economy.
-Zero Emissions Power Plant, with Annual Meetings of the Coal Research Forum and the Coal Utilisation Subject Group.
-Recent Developments in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
Link to all the conference papers listed under the above headings

More information and global links from The Minerals Engineering Society...

NB. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs...!

As I post this a "new mining environmental theme" has been brought to my attention, namely, the project to pipe leaching residue-acid and heavy metals- waste from nickel mining and separation into a lagoon in New Caledonia-Nouvelle Caledonie by a large mining group (Brazilian) involved in Nickel mining in New Caledonia-Nouvelle Calédonie. ref the reputable Thalassa longest runing TV prog.(FR3) in France. All data highly appreciated. Follow-up all next week by Thalassa.

Thinking Outside The Box - Fuel from Coal-Eating Microbes - System 4_Bis

THE BOX -VENN DIAGRAMME opposite.

Burning coal for heat and energy is too old to dwell on. It was the logical step during much of the last century to carry this to today's high temperature materials assisted power generation. To continue pollution represented by the most abundant green house gas -CO2 must be mastered hence the necessary additional steps of CO2 capture and sequestration. Various processes exist, unfortunately only at fairly large pilot size but well under predicted sustainable climate predictions-requirements.

OUTSIDE THE BOX- System 4 Bis:
Relatively new biochemical process results suggest a new low-temperature_lower energy loss process route whereby methane gas fuel is generated from coal by coal eating microbes.

The incentives to develop this new route are:

- Low Temperatures, less energy intensive.
- Half as much carbon dioxide is emitted as does burning coal.
- reduce or help eliminate the anticipated need to import natural gas in the future. (Russia - Ukraine etc)
- Substantial interest and historical evidence for in coal bed methanisation:
1. Luca Technologies, a start-up based in Golden, CO, has raised $76 million to scale up a process that uses coal-digesting microorganisms to convert coal into methane.
2. Andrew Scott, former professor of economic geology, Univ of Texas,Austin is the founder Altuda Energy Corporation, based in San Antonio, TX A. Scott


Having said this, the framework may still be argued to hold if accent is given to Power Industry rather than Coal Fired Power. Clearly, however these concepts are radially different. The microbiological route appears to hold much promises and at the very least hopefully will stimulate the over mature Coal Fired Power players to accelerated their work to achieve all the objective the silent majority aspires to - much cleaner energy and eventually renewable energy. In the meantime the cross disciplinary- Metallurgical and Materials Industries will evidently still play an important role in anticipating evolving requirements.

Full Paper with many hypertext links

Fuel from Coal-Eating Microbes

Acknowledgements to Ray Kurzweil editor of one of my early Internet newsletter subscriptions whose AI The Brain Technology presentation fascinated me.