Index

Introduction......................................................................................................................................2

1. What is coal?.........................................................................................................................3

2. The origin of coal..................................................................................................................3

4. Coalification.........................................................................................................................4

5. How coal is processed..............................................................................................................5

6. The importance of coal in Mozambique...................................................................................8

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10

Bibliography..................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
In recent days oil crisis is decreasing, and the world continuously increasing hunger for energy
and petrochemicals, has forced man to a sudden comeback to the use of oil, and the largest
carbon-derived energy source, namely coal it is temporarily losing its value, in consequence of
the main consumers focusing environment friendly sources of energy in order to reduce the
levels of pollution in their countries.
Mozambique is one of the countries in the world with one of the largest coal deposits, and its
economy is growing because of the large investments made by coal extraction companies. At this
present assignment we are going to discuss how this precious energy source is processed as well
as it importance in our country.

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 1. What is coal?
Coal is a chemical and physical heterogeneous sedimentary rock consisting of both organic and
inorganic materials. Organically coal consists primarily of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with
lesser amounts of sulfur and nitrogen and inorganically coal consists of the various range of ash
forming compounds distributed throughout the coal.

2. The origin of coal

Coal is a compact stratifies mas of plant matter arrested in various stages of competences of
decay. Its chemical and physical properties have been changed because of geological action. The
chemical changes involve complex alterations in the compounds originating from the plant
structure to procedure the coal substance, with evolution of moisture, carbon dioxide and
methane. The physical changes include a darkening in colour of the mass, an increase in hardness
and in compactness to mineral-like consistencies, and changes in the fracture. The chemical
properties of any coal depend upon the proportions of the different chemical components present
in the parent plant material, the nature and extend of the changes which these components
underwent since their deposition.

3. What is Coal used for?

Coal is a very important mineral; it has many uses at the whole world. The main uses of coal are
in electricity generation, steel production, cement manufacturing and also as a liquid fuel.
Different types of coal have different uses. Steam coal or thermal coal is mainly used in power
generation as a source of energy and coking coal, that is also known as metallurgical coal, is
mainly used in steel production.
Coal is also an essential ingredient in the production of specialist products:
Carbon fiber - an extremely strong but light weight reinforcement material used in
construction, mountain bikes, tennis rackets, cars, aeroplanes, etc.
Activated carbon - used in filters for water and air purification and in kidney dialysis
machines.
Silicon metal - used to produce silicones and silanes, which are in turn used to make
lubricants, water repellents, resins, cosmetics, toothpastes, hair shampoos, etc.

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 4. Coalification
The process of change undergone by a coal as it matures from peat to anthracite is known as
coalification.
What is going to determine the quality of each coal deposit is the varying types of vegetation
from which the coal originated, depths of burial, temperatures and pressures at those depths, also
the length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit.
Coalification has an important role on coal's physical and chemical properties and is referred to
as the 'rank' of the coal. Ranking is determined by the degree of transformation of the original
plant material to carbon. The ranks of coals, from those with the least carbon to those with the
most carbon, are lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite.

Figure 1: coalification process < http://waterquality.montana.edu/docs/photo/coalification.shtml>

At the first stage the peat is converted into lignite, these are coal types with low organic maturity
in comparison to other coals. Lignite is quite soft and its colour can range from dark black to
various shades of brown. Over many more millions of years, the continuing effects of

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temperature and pressure produces further change in the lignite, progressively increasing its
organic maturity and transforming it into the range known as 'sub-bituminous' coals.
Further chemical and physical changes occur until these coals became harder and blacker,
forming the 'bituminous' or 'hard coals'. Under the right conditions, the progressive increase in
the organic maturity can continue, finally forming anthracite. In addition to carbon, coals contain
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and varying amounts of sulphur. High-rank coals are high in carbon
and therefore heat value, but low in hydrogen and oxygen and low-rank coals are low in carbon
but high in hydrogen and oxygen composition.

5. How coal is processed

The group used the Sishen South Project Coal Processing Plant Digram to illustrate how coal
is processed.

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After the extraction by explosives or by mining machinery, the raw coal or ROM (run of mine)
material is transported by dump trucks to the processing plant where it is going to be prepared.
First of all, the trucks dump the material into a ROM feed Bin where it is going to flow to a
Gyratory Crusher. In this case, the crusher is used as primary, it is assembled in the ground and it
is designed to crush big quantities of material, it crushes according to the adjustments conditions
such as the right size and shape needed to pass to next stage of the process. At the next step, the
material flows to a Surge Bin, leaving it by a Belt Conveyer; transporting it to a screener. And
also according to the screener adjustments the material which has the required size will pass
through, and the rest of the material with bigger sizes will be transported to a secondary auxiliary
Crusher, in this case, a Cone Crusher, used to reduce the size of the material rejected by the
screener leaving it with the correct size. After that, the material coming from this cone crusher
will flow to the same belt conveyer with the material coming straight from the screener,
competing an Open Circuit of coal processing. Then the belt conveyer with this material is going
to transport it to a stockpile, considered as a temporary stocking because the process is
continuous. From the stockpile the material flows to a pan vibrating feeder, this machine by
vibration is separates the useless material, like very small fragments from the material with the
required sizes and quality. The next stage is very interesting, it is a Closed Circuit of coal
processing, it consists in transporting the material from the vibrating feeders to a belt conveyer
that is going to dump it in a second screener. Also according to the adjustments made by
operator, the material with the right size of the stage will pass through, and the rest material that
is big enough to no not pass through will flow by a belt conveyer to a Feed Bin, also temporarily.
Then dropped in another Pan Vibrating Feeder to make sure that the right material go to the right
place. After that, it flows to a third crusher, in this case it is another cone crusher, with the
objective of giving it the required size and shape, to be able to pass through the screeners. The
material from the third crusher (cone crusher) is going to be dumped in the very same belt
conveyer that is going to transport it to the screener again. If it now has the right size, it will pass
otherwise is going to do the same process over and over again. From the screener the material is
going to meet another belt conveyer that is going to take it to the stacker which to stock the
material. In the fine stage of the processing the stocked material is carried by a belt conveyer and
taken to the loading station where the material is going to be loaded to a train or trucks that are

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going to distribute the product to the market places or the buyers.

6. The importance of coal in Mozambique

Mozambique is considered the second largest exporter of coal in Africa, before South Africa. The
growing mining of coal industries is also contributing to Mozambiques infrastructure
development, such as electricity lines, roads, railways and ports mostly in the areas of
exploration, this mineral development in Mozambique created new communities and bring
wealth to those already in existences, but it also caused some considerable disruption to those
who had to be relocated. These new projects in Mozambique opened new jobs, business
activities, roads, railways, schools, and health clinics at remote and previously impoverished
areas.
Before the mining industries started, Tete was similar to the rest of Mozambican provinces, with
much of its population living in the poverty and rural conditions. Nowadays foreign technicians
are flocking to the province and the streets around Moatize are filled with trucks and private
vehicles. Thousands of people cross the Samora Machel iconic bridge daily, which connects Tete
city with district of Moatize.
A more clear-out companys contribution to local development by the coal companies is the
social investments and community development initiatives. Vale for example has rehabilitated
two health clinics in Moatize Village and has collaborated with USAID on a night clinic and HIV
counselling project. Other socio economic development projects have included the rehabilitation
of nurseries, establishment of vocational training programs for women and men, and the piloting
of innovation farming techniques.
Rio Tinto`s projects have included agriculture, livestock and the development of model farms, as
well as health projects and clinics. Jindal has also undertakes a number of malaria prevention
projects in Maputo and Cahora-Bassa.
One of Jindal's major projects has been the computer refurbishment of a vocational training
institute. The Indian company has completed a number of public works including the
construction of schools, clinics and parks in response to requests by the community and
government.
Ncondezi plans to develop Mozambiques first coal fired power plant on the Ncondezi Project
area in the Tete Province. This follows the conclusion of both a Mine and government resechers,

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which confirmed that a large scale, long life, open pit thermal coal mine and integrated power
plant is technically and economically viable. This power project has a unique advantage over
other potential power projects in the region because it is entirely focused on supplying
Mozambiques growing energy demands over the short to medium term, it can be delivered in a
reasonably short time frame and the power plant can be scaled up in 300MW units.
Mozambique is one of the largest generators and exporters of electricity in sub-Saharan Africa
and is strategically well positioned, with existing transmission infrastructure, to meet the
shortfalls in energy supply domestically and in the broader Southern African Power Pool,
especially South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and Namibia. The 300MW Project is
closely aligned to the Mozambican Government has stated objective of accelerating the
electrification of the country and expanding access to electricity. Currently only 20% of the
country is electrified. The power plant will help Mozambique maximize the potential of its
resources in country and will be an important contributor to Mozambiques future development.

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Conclusion
This assignment was very important to us because it leaded us to get know so many things, about
how coal is so important in the recent situation of our country, and about coal processing we had
to investigate deeper to be able to complete this assignment.
After the elaboration of this assignment, we conclude that, mineral coal is has been a very
important source of energy in the world since the Industry Revolution, contributing positively in
the needs of mass production of the factories and economically to the countries where it is
mined. The processing of coal will depends on where it is going to be used in future and also the
demands of the buyer, so they are many types of processing plant, with different methods of coal
preparation. In our country, it is produced two types of coal, and they are most important in the
coal market, that are coke and thermal coal. Thermal coal is mainly used to produce electricity
and also to power automotives; coke coal is used in metallurgical industries as one of auxiliary
absolvents in the production of some metals.

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Bibliography
Larry Thomas, Larry P. Thomas, Coal Geology, Wiley, 2002, p. 55 89;
Orhan Cevdet Kural, Coal resources, properties, utilization, pollution, 1994,
Technology & Engineering, p. 143 150;
Stuart Nicol, The Principles of Coal Preparation, 1997, p.275;
http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/ - accessed on 19/03/15;
http://www.jornalnoticias.co.mz/index.php/main/31531-impacto-das-minas-de - carvo-
de-tete/ - accessed on 21/03/15.

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