How to Promotethe Cooperative Research for Coal Science

Abstract

Necessity of Coal Science ResearchCoal has had a great motive force for the progress of industry and a great contribution for the welfare of men up to now. It is said recently that the coal mining industry is going down by the exploitation of petroleum or natural gas and the development of atomic power. In Japan, however, coal is outputted about 50 million tons per annum and has a fairly large ratio in the total energy consumption even now. In the past, the utilization of coal was possible in a sense without the knowledge in the constitution or the properties of coal. In future, however, the development of coal chemical industry and of a new coal utilization will be impossible without the coal science research. The geological deposit period, the constitution and the properties of Japanese coal are different from those of foreign coals. It is necessary to find a new technique of coal utilization fitted in the characteristics of Japanese coal. Therefore, the coal science research for Japanese coal has to be established by using the all-round physical and chemical methods.Significance of Cooperative Research for Coal ScienceIt is necessary to use the all kind analytical machineries for the coal science research. The price of these machineries is rather expensive. It is rattier difficult to have and equip the all new machineries in a laboratory. It is desirable, therefore, to do the cooperative research for coal science by using the particular machineries or methods of each laboratory. The constitution and properties of coal are very complex and are different in rank, field, seam, position, maceral, and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to use the same sample prepared and stored carefully in the cooperative research for coal science. The possibility of putting together the knowledge for coal science of respective specialist in each laboratory is an important advantage of cooperative research.An Attempt for Cooperation in Coal Science ResearchAt present, the main utilization of coal is the manufacture of coke, except the utilization as a source of energy. The constitution and properties of char, activated carbon, smokeless fuel, coke and artificial graphite is very affected by those of original coal and the method of heat treatment. There is no strongly coking coal in Japan. It is requested to establish the manufacturing method of blast furnace coke from Japanese coal only. For this request it is important to clarify the change of physical and chemical properties in coal with heat treatment. Consequently, the cooperative research for chemical structure and properties of heat treated coal in the early stage of carbonization is now planning under the cooperation of Resources Research Institute, Waseda University and Coal Mining Research Centre.