Chemical analyses and physical properties of 12 coal samples from the Pocahontas field, Tazewell County, Virginia, and McDowell County, West Virginia
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Publications and source records attributed to S.L. Coleman.
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This report includes the analytical data on 659 coal samples from 8 States east of the Mississippi River. The number of samples from each State are: Pennsylvania, 132; Ohio, 101; Maryland, 25; West Virginia, 254; Virginia, 33; Indiana, 49; Massachusetts, 5; and Rhode Island, 10. The analytic data are filed in the National Coal Resource Data System of the U.S. Geological Survey. The U.S. Geological Survey has quantitatively determined 35 major, minor, and trace elements in each sample. Tests were also made for 35 other trace elements using semi-quantitative spectrographic methods. In addition, the Coal Analysis Section of the U.S. Department of Energy has determined proximate and ultimate analyses, 3cu, forms of sulfur, free-swelling indexes, and ash-fusion temperatures on 563 of the 659 samples. Comparison of the geometric means of the 644 bituminous coal samples of this report with an additional 968 bituminous coal samples of the eastern United States reported by Swanson and others in 1976 and by Zubovic and others in 1979 is shown in tables 2a-c. As shown by the means for ultimate and proximate analyses, small differences exist between the two sets of data; however, only the moisture and oxygen contents are significantly different. The forms of sulfur, ash-fusion temperature and heat of combustion are similar. The means for the major and minor oxides in ash are similar for SiO 2 , K 2 O, Fe 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , MgO, and P 2 O 5 are lower, whereas, MnO is higher in the analyses of the samples of this report. Eighteen of the means for the trace elements in the coal are about equal for the two sets of samples. Only As, Co, La, Li, and Pb are significantly higher, whereas, Ag, B, Ba, Be, Cd, Cs, F, Ge, Mo, Nb, and Nd are lower in the in the 64L,bituminous coal samples of this report.
This report includes all the analytical data on 617 coal samples from 8 states east of the Mississippi River. The samples from each state are, Pennsylvania 71, Ohio 40, West Virginia 252, Virginia 72, Kentucky 27, Tennessee 27, Alabama 20, and Indiana 108. The U.S. Geological Survey has quantitatively determined the amounts of 35 major, minor and trace elements in each sample. It has also searched for 35 other trace elements using semi-quantitative spectrographic methods. In addition, the Coal Analysis Section of the Department of Energy has provided proximate and ultimate analyses, Btu, forms of sulfur, free swelling index, and ash fusion temperatures on 491 samples. Comparison of the geometric means of these samples with 331 bituminous coal samples of the Appalachian region reported by Swanson and others (1976) are as follows. As shown by the means for ultimate and proximate analyses small differences exist between the two sets of data, only the moisture content and oxygen are significantly different. The forms of sulfur and heat of combustion are also similar. The means for the major and minor oxides in ash are similar for SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , CaO, MgO, K 2 O 3 and TiO 2 . Na 2 O is significantly lower and Fe 2 O 3 and MnO higher in the analyses of the 617 samples of this report. Most means for the trace elements in the coals studied for this report are lower. Only Be is significantly higher in these coals.
During 1975, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with other Federal and State agencies, university groups, and private companies, continued its program to augment and refine information on the composition of coal in the United States. This report includes all analytical data on 799 channel samples of coal beds from major operating mines and core holes in 28 States, collected mainly by State Geological Surveys under a cooperative program funded largely by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. For each sample, the U.S. Geological Survey has quantitatively determined the amounts of 24 major, minor, and trace elements (including AI, As, Cd, Cu, F, Hg, Mn, Na, Pb, Se, U, and Zn), and has semiquantitatively determined the concentrations of 15 to 20 additional trace elements (including B, Be, Cr, Ge, Mo, Ni, and V). In addition, the U.S. Bureau of Mines has provided proximate and ultimate analyses, and Btu and forms-of-sulfur determinations on 488 of the samples. Statistical summaries of the data are given for all coal samples in the United States, for coal divided by rank (53 anthracite, 509 bituminous coal, 183 subbituminous coal, and 54 lignite samples), and the arithmetic means, ranges, and geometric means and deviations are given for the coal in each of seven different major coal areas in the United States. For example, the average coal in the United States contains 11.3 percent ash, 10.0 percent moisture, 2.0 percent sulfur, and has 11,180 Btu per pound; of the 10 major oxides determined on the 525?C ash, the average SiO2 content is 38 percent, Al2O3 20 percent, and Na2O 0.67 percent; the average Cd content is 7.3 ppm, Pb 114 ppm, and Zn 151 ppm (range 1 ppm to 6.0 percent). As determined on the raw coal, the average Hg content is 0.18 ppm (range <0.01 to 63.0 ppm), the Se content 4.1 ppm (range <0.1 to 150 ppm), and the U content 1.8 ppm (range <0.2 to 42.9 ppm).