Yet Another Ash Related Question

Continuing my coal education: My first assumption (OK, guess) is that it would seem that the lower the ash content by weight and volume the better the anthracite, but is this actually consistently (or ever) the case, or is there any sound reason why anthracite coal with more ash might out-perform anthracite with less ash?

A sound reason??? nah!-- Larry, I'm curious--list some things from Mother Earth that are absolute.

freetown fred wrote:A sound reason??? nah!-- Larry, I'm curious--list some things from Mother Earth that are absolute.

Death, absolute zero, a perfect vacuum, and Obama as President.

Nice

Too much of a good thing...can be a bad thing.

It doesn't matter how many BTU's are in a pound of coal if it clinkers excessively, or if it is so dense that doesn't maintain a fire without air being forced through it. That is why so many coal companies blend coal from different sources, to produce a more uniform and predictable product.

Also, it doesn't matter how great the coal itself is if it hasn't been prepared properly. The coal needs to be the proper size, and free of foreign material.

Is that why Lehigh is blending coal from four different mine locations?

Also, it doesn't matter how great the coal itself is if it hasn't been prepared properly. The coal needs to be the proper size, and free of foreign material

Ok Rob you have my interest on this. Rice coal that is proper size will have better performance then rice coal that has excessive fines? Referring to a stoker stove.

lsayre wrote:Is that why Lehigh is blending coal from four different mine locations?

Lehigh does not blend coal, They have the LARGEST vein of coal in the world and a small amount of land comparitively, blending at Lehigh is only bank coal with vein coal.

Oops, I intended to say that Lehigh blended from 4 veins (not 4 mines). I believe it was Rob who was told this when he contacted them recently.

Well, that sounds more logical, it is truely only one vein though, they are just mining it in different areas as per DEP requirements, but as most do they also blend some bank coal

mattcoalburner wrote:Well, that sounds more logical, it is truely only one vein though, they are just mining it in different areas as per DEP requirements, but as most do they also blend some bank coal

Thanks mattcoalburner! Do you have an opinion of Lehigh coal?

Right off their website:

The coal is mined from the Mammoth, Forty-Foot, Primrose and Orchard seams on the approximately 8,000-acre Lehigh Anthracite mine

I do, I only deal with them and Gale Mining company, when Lehigh is just taking coal from the Mammoth vein it is probably damn near the best coal in the entire world. They were just taken over in the past few years and their is alot of bank coal being blended. It is still great coal and probably some of the best you can buy, but lately im seeing more red ash then I like and more clinkers. Red ash coal is not as good as white ash because it is closer to the surface and contains more Iron and less carbon. Also, when coal is exposed to the sun and elements through many years it loses some of its gasses, and that is the case with bank coal. some of it has been sitting on the banks in our area since the mid to late 1800's. But as I say their coal is still some of the best in the industry.

Rob R. wrote:Right off their website:

The coal is mined from the Mammoth, Forty-Foot, Primrose and Orchard seams on the approximately 8,000-acre Lehigh Anthracite mine

I understand this Rob, they are all seams within the Mammoth vein I live very close, buy about 900 tons of their coal a year.

Not having grown up around coal, what is bank coal?