Section I Introduction to Coal and its Utilisation -- 1 What Is Coal? -- 2 Why is Coal Important? -- 3 How Much Coal? -- 4 How Is Coal Won? -- 5 How can Coal be Used? -- Section II Technology of Coal Utilisation -- 6 Combustion -- 7 The Carbonisation of Coal -- 8 Gasification -- 9 Liquefaction of Coal -- 10 Chemicals from Coal -- 11 In-Situ Processes: Underground Coal Gasification -- Section III Economics of Coal Utilisation -- 12 General Considerations of Coal Utilisation Economics -- 13 Economics of Combustion and Power Generation -- 14 Economics of Carbonisation -- 15 Economics of Coal Gasification -- 16 The Economics of Liquefaction -- 17 Economics of Chemicals from Coal -- 18 Economics of Underground Coal Gasification -- 19 Environmental Impact -- 20 Multi-Component Plants: Coalplexes -- Section IV Coal in Energy Policies -- 21 Distribution of Coal in Relation to Energy Networks -- 22 Relationship of Coal to Nuclear Power and Other Energy Sources -- 23 Coal Utilisation in Relation to World Energy Strategies.

The authors who have collaborated in writing this book have also worked together for more than a decade in promoting Coal Utilisation R&D. They bear a substantial responsibility for the way the policy of the National Coal Board in this field has developed since 1966 and, more directly, for the programme of work at the Coal Research Establishment, Stoke Orchard, near Cheltenham. After a period of relative neglect, R&D on Coal Utilisation has flourished in recent years, both in extent and the importance ascribed to it. A large amount of technical data has been obtained from the pioneering experimental work and this will form the foundation on which vast new industries can be based. The timing and organisation of the application of technical information into these new coal conversion industries represents, in the authors' view, the most important question in the whole field of energy, which is now widely recognised as a vital aspect of social and economic development. The scale of the new coal utilisation enterprises will be greater, and their success more critical, than that of any other development in the field of energy, including that of nuclear power or the renewable resources. This book is, therefore, not directed specifically at technical experts in the field of coal utilisation, and in particular it is not intended to enlighten those who specialise in particular sections of this technology.