Name: _________________________
Coal Notes Sheet
Renewable resources:
Ex.
Nonrenewable Resources:
Ex.
Fossil Fuels: Forms of stored energy that are remains of living things made primarily of carbon and hydrogen
through the process of _________________________.
Ex.
Carbonization:
Coal: formed from partially decomposed __________________________________ which is turned into solid
brittle rock when it is compressed over a long period of time.
Coal Facts:
Types of Coal: Using pg. 436 describe each of the following fuels
Peat

Coke(pg 446):
Lignite

Subbituminous

Bituminous

Anthracite
Problems with coal
Coal Mining:
 Underground mining: dangerous, collapsed mines, fires, gas explosions, and black lung
 Black Lung:
 _______ _______: the overlying layer of rock is stripped to get to the coal from the surface…
Problems with strip mining
 Less than one-half of the mines have been _______________ (restored to their natural state)
 __________ __________ __________ (AMD) is when water reacts with mineral in the open mine forming
highly acidic water pollution the environment killing aquatic organisms and waterfowl
Solutions to coal use
 __________ __________ and __________ Act of 1977 requires that mined land be restored to its
primary use (forest, field, etc.)
 __________ __________ Act of 1990 forces companies to reduce the emissions (release) of SO2 and NO2
when burning coal
 __________ coal in this country is coming form the mid-west instead of the east because it contains less
sulfur
 New technologies are being invented to __________ air pollutants from coal (scrubber - sprays the gas
with lime or calcium water binding the SO2, causing it to settle out – expensive process to install)
*Using natural gas is cleaner because it releases __________ the CO2 and SO2 of coal.
Synthetic Fuels: Fuels produced by chemically changing fossil fuels like coal. They are cleaner burning (pg 446)
Liquid Coal –
Coal gas –
Oil Shale –
***These processes are expensive and require a lot of water. The production process is very dirty.
***These fuels are not yet a major energy source