Meet Met Coal
What is coal?
Coal is an organically derived substance formed from the remains of ancient plants. Over millions of years through pressure and heat these remains are compacted and the result is coal— a rich, energy-dense material that can serve as an important energy provider and is critical to many industrial processes— such as steelmaking.
Not all coal is the same
There are different types of coal that have different uses. Coal is often divided between thermal and metallurgical coal.
Thermal coal
Thermal coal is the coal everybody knows, it comes in the form of lignite (brown coal) and sub-bituminous coal. These products have varied profiles but are primarily deployed for electricity generation. And while over a quarter of the world’s primary energy consumption is from coal, only about 2% of Canada’s electricity is derived from it.
Metallurgical coal
Metallurgical, “met”, coking, or steelmaking coal is what we are here to talk about. Met coal is a critical input into steelmaking operations and other industrial processes. It is a higher grade than thermal coal, making it a distinct product. Met coal demand is unsurprisingly linked to steel demand, and estimates suggest that the world will be using more steel in the future— and with it, using steel making coal.
How is coal used to make steel
Metallurgical coal is a critical feedstock in the production of steel. The coal is crushed and ground into a powder and then put into an oven where it is heated to roughly 1800°F in the absence of oxygen. The cooked coal, called coke, is removed from the oven after 18 to 24 hours. The coke is then ready to be used for steelmaking.
It takes around 770 kilograms of coal to make one ton of steel, and approximately 70 per cent of global steel is produced using metallurgical coal, while the remainder is developed mostly using Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF). EAFs rely on recycled steel (possibly made initially from coal) to create steel.
