Coal is the largest and most widespread fuel resource providing 23 per cent of the worlda s energy. However widespread concern about environmental emissions from coal has started to limit the growth in use of this important energy source. While metallurgical coal and thermal coal have similar geologic origins, their commercial markets and industrial uses are vastly different. Thermal coal or steaming coal is burned for steam to run turbines to generate electricity either to public electricity grids or directly by industry consuming electrical power (such as chemical industries, paper manufacturers, cement industry and brickworks). During power generation the coal is ground to a powder and fired into a boiler to produce steam to drive turbines to produce electricity.
