The overall objective of this course is to give the student a basic understanding of the nature of coal composition and rank, and a working knowledge of how these properties affect the behavior of coal in various industrial processes. The specific objectives of the course are to give the student:

1. A basic knowledge of the maceral concept of coal composition including the petrographic, chemical, physical, and industrial properties of all of the common macerals.

2. A basic knowledge of coal rank and how rank affects the properties of coal.

3. A basic knowledge of coal lithotypes and their properties.

4. A working knowledge of the quantitative methods of coal petrology including the point counting of maceral composi

5. A working knowledge of the applications of coal petrology in carbonization, combustion, coal property evaluation, coal mine planning, coal conversion processes and oil and gas exploration.

6. A working knowledge of the literature of coal petrology.

Course Structure

After some initial instruction during class time the individual students will be assigned samples to petrographically analyzed at a time convenient to the student. In addition, some trouble shooting problems and some graded exercises will also be assigned.

1. Weekly reading assignments will be given. The books and papers assigned are either in the library or in the Coal Characterization Laboratory.
2. There will be graded problem sets on applications of coal petrology. These will be assigned in the last half of the course.
3. Each student will be assigned a laboratory project involving petrographic analysis and photomicrographs. The final results of this work will be presented to the class.
4. A research paper dealing with a topic to be assigned will be due by 22 April 1996. The final results of this work will also be presented to the class.