Future directions toward more efficient and cleaner use of coal

Many eminent coal technologists still anticipate a shift toward integrated coal utilization complexes that could one day convert coal into clean, ready-to-use energy, produce cost-effective reductants for steelmaking, and simultaneously generate an array of useful chemical feedstocks or products from both the coal and associated mined rocks and minerals, while achieving energy and environmental sustainability. This chapter explores such opportunities as a perceived future trend reflecting on the changing energy scene and considering all sources of energy. Current practices involve a series of distinct supply chains that lead to designated product brands often being transported from seller to buyer with only minimal collaboration or cooperation. This tends to constrain any possibilities of optimization of definite outcomes and/or of sustainability of the resource. Optimization is important to generate innovation and create technology shifts that could improve efficiencies, drive down costs, and ensure safer practices. Directions that should emerge might be toward polygeneration, integrated coal driven factories or refineries, maximized utilization of mined materials, and the return of mined areas to acceptable community usage with water utilization controlled without unacceptable environmental consequences. There is a very clear and strong tendency to find alternative solutions involving “coal free” and “carbon lean” technologies, especially in Europe. Therefore the main objective for this outlook, from the point of view of the contributing authors, is to provide analysis and discussion as to where, to why, and to what extent coal will be replaceable in the future and how coal will be used in more environmentally friendly or carbon conscious ways for as long as this is required.