Anthracite Coal has the highest carboncontent (between 92.1% and 98%), the fewest impurities, and the highest calorific content of all types of coal.
Anthracite Coal ignites with difficulty and burns with a short, blue, and smokeless flame. Anthracite is categorized into standard grade, which is used mainly in power generation, and high grade (HG) and ultra high grade (UHG), the principal uses of which are in the metallurgy sector. Anthracite accounts for about 1% of global coal reserves and is mined in only a few countries around the world. China accounts for the majority of global production; other producers are Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, Vietnam, the UK, Australia and the US. Total production in 2010 was 670 million tons.
In spring 1808, John and Abijah Smith shipped the first commercially mined load of anthracite down the Susquehanna River from Plymouth, Pennsylvania, marking the birth of commercial anthracite mining in the United States. From that first mine, production rose to an all-time high of over 100 million tons in 1917. Anthracite usage was inhibited by the difficulty of igniting it. This was a particular concern in smelting iron using a blast furnace.
With the invention of hot blast in 1828, which used waste heat to preheat combustion air, anthracite became a preferred fuel, accounting for 45% of US pig iron production within 15 years. Anthracite for iron smelting was later displaced by coke. From the late 19th century until the 1950s, anthracite was the most popular fuel for heating homes and other buildings in the northern US, until it was supplanted by oil burning systems and more recently natural gas systems. Many large public buildings, such as schools, were heated with anthracite-burning furnaces through the 1980s.
"The Road of Anthracite"
During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners used anthracite as a smokeless fuel for their boilers to avoid giving away their position to the blockaders. The invention of the Wootten firebox enabledlocomotives to directly burn anthracite efficiently, particularly waste culm. In the early 20th century US, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad started using only the more expensive anthracite coal in its passenger locomotives, dubbed themselves "The Road of Anthracite" and advertised widely that travelers on their line could make railway journeys without getting their clothing stained with soot.
Anthracite Coal Today:
Anthracite generally costs two to three times as much as regular coal. In June 2008, the wholesale cost of anthracite was US$150/short ton.
The principal use of anthracite today is for a domestic fuel in either hand-fired stoves or automatic stoker furnaces. It delivers high energy per its weight and burns cleanly with little soot, making it ideal for this purpose. Its high value makes it prohibitively expensive for power plant use. Other uses include the fine particles used as filter media, and as an ingredient in charcoal briquettes.
Anthracite Coal Mining:
China today mines by far the largest share of global anthracite production, accounting for more than three-quarters of global output.Most Chinese production is of standard-grade anthracite, which is used in power generation. Increased demand in China has made that country into a net importer of the fuel, mostly from Vietnam, another major producer of anthracite for power generation, although increasing domestic consumption in Vietnam means that exports may be scaled back. Current U.S. anthracite production averages around 5 million tons per year. Of that, about 1.8 million tons were mined in the state of Pennsylvania.[14] Mining of anthracite coal continues to this day in eastern Pennsylvania, and contributes up to 1% to the gross state product.
As petroleum and natural gas have become more expensive, anthracite coal may grow in its importance as an energy source.
Countries producing HG and UHG anthraciteinclude Russia and South Africa. HG and UHG anthracite are used as a coke or coal substitute in various metallurgical applications (sintering, PCI, direct BF charge,pelletizing). It plays an important role in cost reduction in the steel making process and is also used in production of ferro-alloys, silicon-manganese, calcium-carbide and silicon-carbide. South Africa exports lower-quality, higher-ash anthracite to Brazil to be used in steel-making.
Major Anthracite Coal Reserves:
Among current producers, Russia, China and Ukraine have the largest estimated recoverable reserves of anthracite. Other countries with substantial reserves include Vietnam and North Korea.
Geologically, the largest most concentrated anthracite deposit in the world is found in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States. Locally called the Coal Region, the deposit contains 480 square miles of coal bearing rock which originally held 22.8 billion short tons (20.68 billion tonnes) of anthracite.it is estimated that 7 billion short tons (6.3 billion tonnes) of minable reserves remain. The United States also contains several smaller deposits of anthracite, such as those historically mined in Crested Butte, Colorado.
The Groundhog Anthracite Deposit, located in British Columbia, Canada, is the largest previously undeveloped anthracite deposit in the world. It is owned by Australian publicly listed company, Atrum Coal and boasts 1.57 billion tonnes of high grade anthracite.
Anthracites of newer Tertiary or Cretaceous age are found in the Crow's Nest part of theRocky Mountains in Canada and at various places in the Andes in Peru.