EGEE 101
Energy and the Environment

Coal Transportation

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How coal is transported is important, as often it will travel great distances (low S coal from the West to about 30 different States), across the State and International boundaries, and across the oceans. The United States is the "Saudi Arabia" of coal, so we transport coal across the nation. The final leg of the coal journey is normally to a utility site via rail. Lignite, however, is not shipped very far (much of the mass is water) so the coal-fired utility site (electricity generation site) sits next to the surface mine.

Conveyers Out of the Mine To The Next Transportations and Ultimately into the Pulverisors at the Utility Site

The conveyor is commonly used to move coal out of the mine and it can cover multiple miles carrying the material to the loading site for rail or barge transport. The coal may have been partially crushed in the mine to reduce the size of the lumps being transported. When the coal arrives at the utility site the conveyors are used again to put the coal in storage and to take the coal from the pile to the pulverizers for immediate use in the pulverized coal boiler.

coal on a conveyor belt
The conveyors can more coal efficiently over multiple miles, from the coal mine to the next transportation stage.

By Truck

Surface mines can also use very-large trucks to carry coal (or overburden) from the seam to the next location for transport. What is not evident in these pictures is the scale of these trucks, they are the size of some houses! Some mines are now using autonomous vehicles to transport coal (they are expensive vehicles and companies need to maximize their use).

Dump trucks full of coal
Massive coal trucks move the overburden, then the coal.

By Rail

Coal is commonly moved by rail. It was the movement of coal and goods during the era of "King Coal" that was responsible for an emerging infrastructure of railway lines that crisscross the country. There used to be a rail depot close to where the bus depot now stands in State College (there is a "Coal Lane" hidden there). You can still ride the rails from Bellefonte to Lemont. How important was the rail system? We currently ship coal all over the country from Wyoming because the coal has a low-sulfur content as the Clean Air Act restricts sulfur emissions from coal combustion. We also move over coal from the mining site to where it is needed (electricity generation, industrial use for steam generation, or movement to the cokers).

many trains in a train yard. All of the train cars are filled with coal.
Train yard

By River

It is a common site in Pittsburgh to see coal barges moving coal up and down the river. It is an efficient method of moving heavy materials. Here it is often coking coal being moved to the coker sites, or steam coal (for use in electricity generation) connecting to the rail system. Please listen to the audio, Did you know this?

Click here for a transcript of "Did you know this?"

Dr. Mathews: During the search for the Titanic it was actually the coal debris field which helped located it. These submersibles went down and when they found a very large debris field of coal, they followed that and when it narrowed down they found the Titanic. Of course when the titanic flipped upside down and the boilers burst through the shell of the hull of the vessel and all the coal, which was Welsh Anthracite, poured through the hulled. Now when I was in Orlando in 2002, there was actually a Titanic exhibition and they had actual artifacts from the Titanic there. You could actually go and buy a piece of this Welch Anthracite coal which had been picked up from the sea floor. Now I wasn’t about to spend 15 or 20 dollars on a small piece of Welch Anthracite coal, but it is pretty interesting. There is also another story which is of relevance to the Titanic with coal. And that is its actual manufacturer. It was built in Ireland, cheap labor I guess. The problem with building things in Ireland is that if they are making steel, essentially you needed coal for making the coke. Unfortunately, they used cheap English coal to do this and it had a high sulfur content, so it was a relatively poor quality. The problem with a high-sulfur content in coal is that you get a high sulfur content in your coke. If you have sulfur in your coke it ends up in your steel, because it goes into the iron and the iron into the steel. This is very undesirable because it makes the steel brittle and this probably contributed to the sinking of the vessel. So the moral of the story - don't buy vessels built in Ireland unless they are made out of wood.)

Barge full of coal headed down a river
Pittsburgh has many bridges and if you look down you will see coal barges move up and down the river.

By Ocean

We move coal in a similar manner to the movement of oil in the equivalent of tankers. These sea-going ships travel the Great Lakes, and across the oceans delivering coal.

ocean barge pulled up to port filled with coal
Coal loading dock and coal transport ship.

Movement of coal from Wyoming across the nation

Wyoming has low-sulfur coal and it is in high demand. It is shipped mostly by rail to ~30 States.

map of us showing movement of coal
Map showing where, and how much, coal is delivered from the Powder River Basis (mostly by rail) in millions of tons. Wyoming produces more coal currently than the next 5 states combined
Credit: Wyoming Mining Association

Coal Storage

We don't tend to store coal at the mine (instead we mine as needed) but we can store coal at the coal-fired utility. This allows for storage in case of supply disruptions (in winter) and permits the ability to pick up coal on the spot market (there are long-term contracts and coal that is available for more immediate sale). These piles are aligned into the wind to reduce dust problems. Supplies of 30 to 90 days are common.

piles of coal with a smoke stack behind it and a river in front of it.
The coal storage pile at the power plant — where it is stored for later use.

There is also a robust international trade in coal by ship and rail with Indonesia, Australia, the former Soviet Union, and the U.S. being significant exporters. The coal goes to China, Europe, Japan, etc.

Global map showing coal trade
Coal is moved all around the world by various methods. Barges carry coal along the natural transportation routes (Rivers) and across the oceans. Indonesia and Australia Indonesia are the leading nations for exporting coal. 
Credit: CarbonBrief