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Oil is one of three fossil fuels found in the earth's surface formed about 300 millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs during the Carboniferous Period. At the time, the land was covered with swamps filled with huge trees, ferns, large leafy plants and rich vegetation. The oceans were filled with algae another form of vegetation made up of billions of tiny plants. On the land, as the trees and plants died and fell to the bottom of the swamp, they formed layers of a spongy material known as peat.

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China faces serious safety issues in the country's coal mines. Tunneling and other accidents reportedly kill more than 5,000 coal miners every year. About 80 percent of China's coal mining-related deaths are attributed to methane gas explosions. China's coal mines releasing methane gas are also responsible for nearly 40 percent of the country's air pollution.

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Major developments in Clean Coal Technology (CCT) in the last decade have made it increasingly attractive as an alternative energy source. CCT now offers more electricity per unit of coal, less solid wastes per unit of electricity, lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity and less thermal pollution per unit of electricity. Coal is a fuel source found in many parts of the world, and Clean Coal Technology may well become attractive to developing countries such as China, India, and Pakistan and the countries of Central Europe and Central Asia that wish to use coal while reducing hazardous emission levels.

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Massive stores of methane gas buried deep inside Asia's coal beds could be shaping up as the next hot energy play. Trillions of cubic meters of clean-burning methane are trapped in Asia's coal deposits.

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The use of coal and lignite to produce liquid transport fuels has been given new importance with the looming "peak oil" crisis. The synergies of mining, drying and conversion technologies need to be explored in order to achieve the highest efficiency and sound environmental process performance of an integrated production system.

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