Global energy sources such as coal and oil are limited, and the burning of such fossil resources creates pollution problems. Wind energy offers one of several promising clean alternatives to carbon-based fuels. However, the composite materials currently available for producing wind turbine blades cannot accommodate the scale-up of wind energy due to their high price and disposal challenges (e.g...

Unmineable coal is an important resource because of its potential to produce coalbed methane (CBM). CBM has grown to supply approximately 10% of US natural gas production and is becoming important worldwide as an energy source [1]. Furthermore, when CO2 is injected, it has the potential to enhance the amount of methane produced (ECBM) and to geologically sequestrate CO2 as an adsorbed phase. Th...

Enormous progress has been made in coal pyrolysis research during the last decade. Models of coal devolatilization have progressed from simple rate expressions based on total mass release's to empirical relationships based on the elemental composition of the parent coal3 to models that attempt to describe the macromolecular network of the ~ o a l . ~ ~ Measurements of particle temperature durin...