Carbon Ore Processing

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Director’s Corner:
Developing New Uses
For American Coal

Beneficiation is a term used to describe the treatment
of a raw material like coal to improve physical or
chemical properties so it can be used for new applications.

NETL’s Coal-Derived Additive
Enables Stronger and More
Durable Cement at a Reduced Cost

In an effort that could ultimately help create new jobs and markets
for coal, NETL researchers have developed a low-cost, coal-derived
cement additive that could lead to the construction of stronger and
more durable roads and buildings.

Carbon Nanomaterials
Research Offers New
Opportunities for Coal

As America’s energy landscape evolves, NETL is advancing
emerging technologies that offer new economic opportunities
for the nation’s most abundant domestic resource — coal.

NETL Creating New Technologies and
Leading Major New Consortium to Create
Non-Traditional Uses for American Coal

NETL experts are advancing ideas through a dynamic new collaborative effort with universities and sister national laboratories known as the Consortium on Coal-based Carbon Materials Manufacturing.

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Coal as a Critical Domestic Resource

Coal is a critical domestic resource that has contributed to U.S. economic growth for over a century. However, in a shifting energy generation paradigm, innovation is needed to extract the full economic value from coal. The Carbon Ore Processing (COP) Program at NETL delivers solutions to this challenge with novel technologies for producing valuable products from coal-derived sources. Laboratory- and pilot-scale research and development (R&D) within the program promises to elevate the value of our nation’s coal resources and transform its use for the future. The program focuses on developing a range of coal-derived products, ranging from high-volume market products to high-value market products, as shown below.

Transforming the Coal Value Chain

Coal’s unique structure and composition makes it well suited as a feedstock for high value carbon products such as computer memory devices, carbon composites, and carbon-containing anodes for batteries. Coal’s abundance and low-cost also makes it an attractive feedstock for high-volume applications such as building materials. Disruptive new technologies that enable these diverse products from coal expand the U.S. coal value chain, sustaining jobs within a critical sector of the US economy as consumption for power generation decreases.

Examples of products pursued by R&D within the COP program include:

• Graphene, quantum dots, conductive inks, enhanced textiles, battery anodes, synthetic graphite, and supercapacitor materials for high-value use.
• Carbon foam (graphitic or non-graphitic), roofing tiles, siding, decking, insulation, joists/studs, sheathing, tiles and carpet, wraps and veneers, and architectural block for high-volume use.

The Carbon Ore Processing Technology area has three primary R&D areas:

• Coal-Derived Carbon Products
  Enables development of new materials and manufacturing processes that utilize domestic coal to produce advanced carbon products.
• Feedstock Upgrading
  Enhances coal’s value as a feedstock for new and expanding coal applications and industries.
• Coal Properties Database
  Enables consumers to optimally pair U.S. coal for their end-uses by utilizing an integrated smart system with machine learning and big data tools.

For more information on potential new markets for coal and the emerging technologies being developed by the Carbon Ore Processing Program, click on the links under Explore the Site.

Explore the Site

News Stories

Project Information

Accomplishments

Conference Proceedings

Research Fact Sheet

Infographics

NETL implements this effort as part of DOE’s Advanced Energy Systems Program.