Illinois Coal Fact Sheet

              Illinois Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Rod R. Blagojevich Jack Lavin
Governor Director
Illinois Coal Fact Sheet
Current Markets for Illinois Coal
• More than thirty-three million tons of Illinois coal was mined in 2002, generating nearly $1 billion in gross revenues for Illinois producers.
• 46 percent of the electricity used in Illinois and 51 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. is generated from coal.
• More than 81 percent of Illinois coal production was purchased by the electric utility industry in 2002. Industrial, residential and commercial users account for the remaining 19 percent.
• Nearly 76 percent of Illinois coal is sold to out-of-state utilities.
• The top 7 utility users of Illinois coal in 2002 were: Tennessee Valley Authority, Tampa Electric Company, AmerenEnergy Generating, PSI Energy, Northern Indiana Public, Inc., Central Illinois Light Company and Gulf Power Company.
• Illinois utilities used 6.5 million tons of Illinois coal in 2002.
• States in addition to Illinois that use large quantities of our coal include Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Alabama. Florida utilities burn nearly 6.4 million tons of Illinois coal each year.
• Illinois coal exports to international markets fluctuate each year due to currency exchange rates and customer demand. Annual exports of Illinois coal reached as high as 2.7 million tons in 1995, although almost no Illinois coal was exported in 2001 or 2002.
Clean-Coal Technologies
• The mandates contained in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 tightened the restrictions on emissions of ozone (O3), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), and particulate matter (PM). The U.S. Department of Energy and Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s Office of Coal Development provide grants for developing and demonstrating technologies that reduce pollutants from coal-burning power plants through coal combustion processes and recycling of coal combustion byproducts.
• Flue gas desulfurization, which reduces the emissions of SO2 by 90 to 95 percent and can significantly reduce emissions of other hazardous air pollutants, was installed on Dallman Units 31 and 32 at City Water, Light and Power in Springfield in June 2001.
• Southern Illinois Power Cooperative has installed a new 120 MW fluidized bed combustor (FBC) at its Marion Station to replace three outdated, inefficient cyclone boilers. The FBC removes 74 percent of SO2 and will use selective, non-catalytic reduction for NOx control.
• EnviRes, LLC of Lexington, Kentucky will soon begin construction of their development-scale HyMelt Gasification Process in East St. Louis. This coal-fired unit will produce high-purity oxygen and CO-rich syngas with minimal environmental emissions.
• Research by Dr. John Mead and Dr. Paul Chugh of Southern Illinois University produced lightweight structural materials for use in coal mines using fly ash, a coal combustion byproduct.