Long term Bit storage

Thanks to all the advice on here I am a very successful bit burner. I currently have a 5 year supply and am thinking about a lifetime stockpile, built up over the next few years. This would probably be a much better investment than the stock market. What kind of storage issues would I have, I am in a rural area and could plant trees or whatever to hide it.
Thanks, Josh

If it were me and I'm assuming you have the space turn it in to landscape. Put some tarps over it then you can put dirt over the top of it. "Mine" out the one side of it as you need it. Not my idea but stolen from someone someone else. The only question is how fast the tarps deteriorate. I think it's the sun that puts the beating on them, underground they should last longer.

bituminous coal will lose it's volitile content and thus it's heat content over time. perhaps the more important issue is that it's properties change over time; a high coking coal (hard to burn easily in a residential situation) will become a free burning coal and vice versa. these things cannot be predicted unless extensive testing has been done on the coal for long-term storage purposes. a coal that may have burned fine in your appliance 5 or ten years ago may not burn well at all today in a long-term storage situation, of course, it may burn just fine and nothing may change at all save for slight loss of btu value. If you would like to do it, do it, but if it were me, i would probably not buy more than a 5 year supply. I do not forsee any inability to obtain bituminous coal in the near future, however, should something catastrophic happen, by all means stock up. Having said all the above, i will tell you the absolute best way to store coal to prevent almost all deterioration and loss of btu content. The ideal way to store coal is to dig a pond, put a liner in it, fill it will coal, then with water, put another liner on top of it and prevent it from going dry and especially from cycling: dry/wet, dry/wet. basically your building a stagnant pond but with a liner to keep out soil minerals and excessive surface/ground water flow which causes mineral deposition and deterioration of the coal. This is the ideal way to store all coals/ anthracite or bituminous and will prevent almost any changes or degradation to the coal over time.

I wasn't sure about the implications for long term storage but wouldn't burying it negate that or partially? I'd imagine exposure to the air and sun plays a major role there?

I just finished burning 3 and 4 year old bituminous coal. Cleaning out my bin, installing wood floor. Burned as good or better than fresh. In fact so good I think I will store a couple of years worth. It may have less heat, I can't tell.

basically it's just exposure to oxygen that degrades the coal over time. it's also what changes but not neccessarily "degrades" the volitile fractions of the coal; changing coking properties for example (this does not happen to all coals, but as i've said above, it cannot be known without studying that particular coal in a long-term storage situation. more often than not the coal will actually become more free-burning and this can happen in either a matter of months or years and is of vital importance to cokemakers.) because exposure to oxygen is what degrades the coal (anthracite or bituminous) the best way to store it is in the largest size possible and under stagnant water; just putting in the ground may help, but keeping it in stagnant water will basically eliminate ANY degradation. to prevent mineralization of the coal it's advisable to use a liner of some sort to keep out ground water minerals (and fresh oxygen).

Would burying it under a few inches of dirt do the trick? This coal burnt great last year and is basically free. I'll give you guys the source after I'm stocked up
Thanks, Josh

Josh H wrote:Would burying it under a few inches of dirt do the trick? This coal burnt great last year and is basically free. I'll give you guys the source after I'm stocked up
Thanks, Josh

I would think a quality tarp below the pile, and another tarp on top, then just cover the sides with dirt. Make sure the tarp you get is not affected by UV rays from the sun.

The "ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY" studied the deterioration of coal in 1958. The report is, Oxidation of Coal", by G.R.Yohe, Report of Investigations 207. It's available at:

http://library.isgs.uiuc.edu/Pubs/pdfs/ri/ri207.pdf

It will tell you more than you ever want to know about the deterioration of coal, especially bituminous coal. The report reference was originally posted by one of the bituminous coal experts on this forum. Sorry I don't remember which one.

Large piles of bit coal tend to catch fire over time. We used to store it in concrete silos, 20,000 tons to silo. If we didn't sell it within a year we would always have a fire.

"Large piles of bit coal tend to catch fire over time"

yup. some coals are more prone to this than others; some coals will spontaniously combust very quickly, some won't do it at all. you can, however, eliminate this risk, by storing coal under water.

Thats a lot to read, so what would be "long term storage" ?