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, called the World Coal Quality Inventory (WoCQI), to obtain samples of coal from the world’s producing coal mines during a limited period of time (roughly 1995-2006). The resulting WoCQI database is intended to help policy makers with decisions regarding:
- Domestic coal resource allocation
- Import needs and export opportunities
- Foreign policy objectives
- Technology transfer policies
- Foreign investment prospects
- Environmental and health assessments
- Byproduct use and disposal
This can contribute to the most economically and environmentally efficient global use of coal.
Methods
International collaborators were provided sample collecting guidelines and forwarded their samples to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Samples were subsequently analyzed for major-, minor-, and trace-elements at the USGS Inorganic Geochemistry Laboratory located in Denver, CO and for proximate and ultimate analyses at a commercial laboratory located in Pennsylvania using ASTM methods (2007). The resulting dataset, in EXCEL 2003 format, includes samples from 56 countries and is not subject to the inter-laboratory variability present in many coal chemistry compilations.
Results
Not all global coal resource occurrences are included in the WoCQI, but 1,580 individual coal samples were eventually collected for analysis. About 70 percent of the WoCQI samples have data from the commercial laboratory, which are presented on an as-received basis. Values for nearly 50 elements from the USGS laboratory were calculated to a consistent dry, whole-coal basis in the dataset.
The WoCQI database is a unique compilation of coal chemical data and in some cases, the WoCQI data may be the only data available for public use. Care must be used when selecting the sample data for use in statistics or interpretation for the following reasons:
1) There are single samples with little or no spatial variability
2) There is a mix of sample types and collection methods
3) The accuracy of the USGS Inorganic Geochemistry Laboratory major-, minor-, and trace-element data is variable
Additional WoCQI Information
Five newsletters (see archive) were published during the sample collection phase to keep communications open between international collaborators and the USGS. For samples from South American countries, the USGS published an open-file report in 2006 (Karlsen and others, 2006) and the Indonesian samples in 2007 (Belkin and Tewalt, 2007). Although no Geographic Information System (GIS) files are part of the WoCQI, two publications containing international coal-bearing areas have been produced and can be used in conjunction with the WoCQI chemistry data (western hemisphere: Tewalt and others, 2008 ; Africa: Merrill and Tewalt, 2008). Ongoing coal-related international studies relate to the creation of GIS shape files for coal-bearing areas of the world. Please check the News tab for the most recent releases.
References
Belkin, H.E., and Tewalt, S.J., 2007, Geochemistry of selected coal samples from Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua, Indonesia: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2207-1202, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1202/
Karlsen, A.W., Tewalt, S.J., Bragg, L.J., and Finkelman, R.B., eds., 2006, The World Coal Quality Inventory: South America: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1241, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1241/
Merril, M.D., and Tewalt, S.J., 2008, GIS Representation of Coal-Bearing Areas in Africa: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1258, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1258/
Tewalt, S.J., Kinney, S.A, and Merrill, M.D., 2008, GIS Representation of Coal-Bearing Areas in North, Central, and South America: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1257, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1257/
Sue Tewalt
Lead Scientist
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