Powering Everyday Life
Metallurgical coal is also known as steelmaking coal or coking coal. While its cousin thermal coal is burned directly for electricity generation, metallurgical coal undergoes a conversion into coke, which is a crucial component in making steel.
Metallurgical Coal
- Is converted to coke, which is a crucial component in steelmaking
- Is chosen due to its good coking ability, as well as low sulfur and phosphorus content. Globally, only a small portion of coal resources can be metallurgical coal.
- Is used as a reducing agent in a blast furnace to react with iron ore and produces molten iron, which is critical in making steel
Thermal Coal
- Is burned to create heat for electricity generation
- A variety of different coal resources can be thermal coal. It is assessed based on calorific content (how much heat energy it can produce when burned)
- Is burned directly in power plants to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity
Which industries use steel?
Steel is used in many common and unexpected products, from guitar strings to jewellery, making it a standard material in our world.
Infrastructure
Steel holds up to harsh weather and time, and is used to construct buildings, bridges, tunnels, and other infrastructure.
Automobiles
Because of its strong resistance to blunt force damage, steel is primarily used for vehicle bodies, chassis, and other automotive parts.
Machinery
Steel can be uniquely shaped and formed, making it useful for unique machinery components
Energy
In both non-renewable and renewable energy, steel is the most dependable material to construct pipelines, equipment, and infrastructure
Packaging
Steel shows up everywhere from food cans to soda cans, and is easily formed to make stronger containers
Appliances
Besides its durable, versatile nature, steel is also smooth and appealing. It is used in most household appliances from refrigerators and washing machines, to chairs and hammers
Are there zero-emissions alternatives to producing steel?
There are exciting new developments in hydrogen-based steel, but we will not see a large-scale application of this technology for decades. For the near future, metallurgical coal remains our best option for producing steel at volumes that can meet global demand.
While mining and processing metallurgical coal does produce greenhouse gases, we are committed to responsible mining, reducing our footprint, and restoring the environment when we have completed production.
