Sub-bituminous coal

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Lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon

title: "Sub-bituminous coal" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["coal"] description: "Lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon" topic_path: "general/coal" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-bituminous_coal" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/SUB-BITUMINOUS_COAL_LIKE_THE_PIECE_JOHN_REDDING_IS_HOLDING_LIES_UNDER_THE_SURFACE_OF_SOME_25,000_SQUARE_MILES_OF..._-NARA-_549121.jpg" caption="An American [[rancher]] holding a lump of sub-bituminous coal"] ::

Sub-bituminous coal is a lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon. The properties of this type are between those of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, and those of bituminous coal, the second-highest grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal is primarily used as a fuel for steam-electric power generation.

Properties

Sub-bituminous coals may be dull, dark brown to black, soft and crumbly at the lower end of the range, to bright jet-black, hard, and relatively strong at the upper end. They contain 15-30% inherent moisture by weight and are non-coking (undergo little swelling upon heating). The heat content of sub-bituminous coals range from 8300 to 11,500 BTu/lb or 19.3 to 26.7 MJ/kg. Their relatively low density and high water content renders some types of sub-bituminous coals susceptible to spontaneous combustion if not packed densely during storage in order to exclude free air flow.

Reserves

A major source of sub-bituminous coal in the United States is the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

Application

Sub-bituminous coals, in the United States, typically have a sulfur content less than 1% by weight, which makes them an attractive choice for power plants to reduce SO2 emissions under the Acid Rain Program.

Sub-bituminous coals release large quantities of greenhouse gases when burned, compared to higher grades of coal.

References

it:Carbone#Litantrace sub-bituminoso

References

  1. "Coal explained". [[Energy Information Administration]].
  2. "Subbituminous coal". Energy Dictionary.
  3. The [[Babcock & Wilcox]] Company. (2005). "Steam: its generation and use". The Babcock & Wilcox Company.
  4. (14 July 2021). "NZ imported more than a million tonnes of 'dirty' coal last year". [[RNZ]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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