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Fuel from coal waste
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A team of scientists at a South African university has developed fuel from waste, based on coal dust and algae. The development was called Coalgae and is essentially a waste product. Experts claim that the fuel produced in this way is environmentally friendly, and also economically advantageous.
The lead author of the project is Ben Zili, who and his colleagues believe that Coalgae is unique among all types of clean-burning fuels.
In the coal mining industry, approximately 30% of the product is lost as dust during the extraction process, with an average of 55 tons of material settling underground as dust.
It is worth noting that coal dust is extremely dangerous from an environmental point of view; first of all, a huge amount of harmful substances penetrates into the soil along with production waste, and the formation of dust also causes great economic damage.
If such a method of producing environmentally friendly fuel is widely used, then at least two problems can be solved, since the main component of the new fuel is coal dust.
Another component of the new fuel is algae, which are grown in artificial ponds. The new fuel is produced by mixing concentrated algae and waste from the coal mining industry, then pressing and drying. From the resulting briquettes, it is possible to obtain high-quality crude oil and 100% combustible fuel (for this, the briquettes are heated to a temperature of 450 0 C without oxygen and burned without smoke).
The oil can then be processed at special plants, and the fuel can be used to generate heat and energy.
According to the research team, if all countries use coal waste to produce Coalgae, it will not only significantly reduce the penetration of harmful substances into the soil, but also produce an economically and environmentally sound fuel for their own needs. According to the researchers, this practice would allow South Africa alone to obtain the necessary amount of fuel to meet about 40% of its own needs (currently crude oil is used).
Now the researchers note first and foremost the benefits of Coalgae waste fuel for the environment. As for the cost of such fuel, the scientists are confident that it will be quite acceptable, given the high quality of the product.
Oil from dried briquettes is indeed of quite high quality, Professor Zili noted that their oil resembles Texas low-sulfur oil, which has a lot of gasoline and hot components and in terms of price it will be close to the Texas product, however, there is relative stability and economic benefit in the market for scrap products.
Professor Zili's team is now testing their product to confirm production costs on an industrial scale, and as the researchers noted, countries from America to China have already shown interest in the scrap fuel.
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