Electricity production is the primary use of coal in the United States. Most of the coal mined in the United States is transported to a power plant, crushed to a very small particle size, and burned. Heat from the burning coal is used to produce steam, which turns a generator to produce electricity. Most of the electricity consumed in the United States is made by burning coal.

Coal-Fired Power Plant: Photo of a power plant where coal is burned to produce electricity. The three large stacks are cooling towers where water used in the electricity generation process is cooled before reuse or release to the environment. The emission streaming from the right-most stack is water vapor. The combustion products from burning the coal are released into the tall, thin stack on the right. Within that stack are a variety of chemical sorbents to absorb polluting gases produced during the combustion process. Image copyright iStockphoto / Michael Utech.

Coal has many other uses. It is used as a source of heat for manufacturing processes. For example, bricks and cement are produced in kilns heated by the combustion of a jet of powdered coal. Coal is also used as a power source for factories. There it is used to heat steam, and the steam is used to drive mechanical devices. A few decades ago most coal was used for space heating. Some coal is still used that way, but other fuels and coal-produced electricity are now used instead.

Coke production remains an important use of coal. Coke is produced by heating coal under controlled conditions in the absence of air. This drives off some of the volatile materials and concentrates the carbon content. Coke is then used as a high-carbon fuel for metal processing and other uses where an especially hot-burning flame is needed.

Coal is also used in manufacturing. If coal is heated the gases, tars, and residues produced can be used in a number of manufacturing processes. Plastics, roofing, linoleum, synthetic rubber, insecticides, paint products, medicines, solvents, and synthetic fibers all include some coal-derived compounds. Coal can also be converted into liquid and gaseous fuels; however, these uses of coal are mainly experimental and done on a small scale.