World Coal Quality Inventory (WoCQI)
Introduction
Scope
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resources Program, in cooperation with many agencies and scientists from the world’s coal producing countries, undertook a project to obtain samples of coal from the world’s producing coal mines during a limited period of time (roughly 1998-2005), which is called the World Coal Quality Inventory (WoCQI). Policy makers require information on coal, including coal quality data, to make informed decisions regarding domestic coal resource allocation, import needs and export opportunities, foreign policy objectives, technology transfer policies, foreign investment prospects, environmental and health assessments, and byproduct use and disposal issues. The development of a worldwide, reliable, coal quality database could help ensure the most economically and environmentally efficient global use of coal.
Methods
Samples were usually collected by foreign collaborators, following USGS collection guidelines, whenever possible. The multitude of producing mines, coal occurrences, or limited accessibility to sites in some countries can preclude collecting more than a single sample from a mine. In some areas, a single sample may represent an entire coal mining region or basin. In addition, some "samples of opportunity" not from current mining have been included in the study. Despite these limitations in sampling and the uneven distribution of sample collection, the analytical results can still provide a general impression of world coal quality.
Upon receipt of the samples in the United States, a USGS laboratory analyzed all samples, generally following American Standard for Testing and Materials (ASTM, 2002) procedures. The major analytical techniques of the USGS laboratory include: ICP-AES - Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, ICP-MS - Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy, AAS - Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, and MAS - Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy (Bullock and others, 2002). Ultimate and proximate analyses were performed by a commercial lab on many of the samples, also following ASTM procedures. Petrography, low-temperature ashing and x-ray diffraction were performed on selected samples, based on interest by foreign collaborators or USGS personnel.
Results
The USGS presents the WoCQI data in digital reports and, when possible, in Geographic Information System (GIS) products that cover world coal bearing and producing regions. These reports may include analytical data for the coal samples that were collected, as well as additional GIS data on geology and infrastructure necessary for coal utilization. Users can download available coal chemistry data and metadata for a country by navigating to Download Data and clicking on the country polygon.
References
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 2002, Annual Book of ASTM Standards 2002, v. 05.06, 650 p.
Bullock, J.H., Jr., Cathcart, J.D., and Betterton, W.J., 2002, Analytical methods utilized by the United States Geological Survey for the analysis of coal and coal combustion by-products: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-389, 15 p.
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