History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania There are two types of coal found in Pennsylvania: anthracite (the “hard coal” found in Northeastern Pennsylvania below the Allegheny Ridge southwest to Harrisburg; also called “stone coal”, “rock coal” in the 1800s) and bituminous (“soft coal”, found west of the Allegheny Front escarpment). Anthracite coal is a natural mineral with a high carbon and energy content that gives off light and heat (produced energy) when burned, making it useful as a fuel. It was possibly first used in Pennsylvania as a fuel in 1769, but its real history begins with a documented
Pulverized coal-fired boiler pre-heated combustion air and forces it out of a nozzle similar in action to fuel being atomized by a fuel injector in modern cars. Under operating conditions, there is enough heat in the combustion zone to ignite all the incoming fuel. There are two methods of ash removal at furnace bottom: The fly ash is carried away with the flue gas and is separated in various hoppers in the path and finally in an ESP or a bag filter. Pulverized coal power plants are broken down into three categories; subcritical pulverized coal (SubCPC) plants, supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC) plants, and