Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2006. / The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on January 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis(M.Eng.)--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 96-99.

Thesis (M.Env.Sc.-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 99-104.

Thesis (Professional Degree)--University of Missouri, School of Mines and Metallurgy, 1939. / The entire thesis text is included in file. Typescript. Illustrated by author. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed March 25, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 123).

Thesis (M.A.)--Slippery Rock University, 2001. / Title from title screen (viewed April 16, 2002). Last updated Apr. 2002.

This study was carried out on the main coal-producing and the extensively block-faulted area of Mchenga Coal Mine, southeast of the 90 km2 intracratonic Livingstonia Coalfield in the north of Malawi. It was initiated against the background of indistinct information on coal geology, shortage of energy and potential environmental threats due to mine activities. The study aimed at integrating investigations of characterization of the lithostratigraphy, coal seam correlation, coal quality determination, examination of the mineralogy and geochemistry of coal and hosts rocks, assessment of water quality and providing information for mining and potential environmental and water quality impact assessment in the study area. The methodologies used in this study include literature review, field visits, mapping, sites selection and characterization, borehole logging, geochemical analyses, data processing and interpretation. The geochemical analyses include proximity analysis of coal quality, microscopy and X-ray Diffraction for mineralogy and petrology, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) for rock geochemistry and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry for determination water geochemistry. The results have shown that a) The Coal Measures comprises of four to six coal seams in different localities, and the occurrence is flat and gently dipping southeast and are correlated. Thicknesses of the coal seams vary from 0.10m to 3.0m with some notable lateral and horizontal variations. Thick and workable seams occupy the lower portion of the Coal Measures and are exposed along the North Rumphi River bank; b) Coal quality belongs to sub-bituminous ‘A’ to ‘C’ on ASTM classification (1991), being characterised by low moisture content (0.8 to 1.3 wt percent) and sulphur content (0.49 to 0.85 wt percent), high ash content (9.0 to 17 wt percent) and volatile matter (24 to 32.9 wt percent), fixed carbon (53.6 to 62.6 wt percent), calorific value (7,015 to 7,670 kcal/kg); c) Mineral matters constitute approximately 9.55 to 38.34 wt percent of the coal samples, predominantly clays (interstratified illite/smectite and kaolinite) with varying proportions of quartz, mica and feldspars, as well as minor calcite and pyrite and their geochemistry, being characterised by enrichment of SiO2 from 5.37 to 20.56 wt percent, Al2O3 (2.63 to 11.21 wt percent) and K2O (0.32 to 3.65 wt percent) with trace concentrations of CaO (0.04 to 0.41 wt. percent), MgO (0.08 to 0.65 wt percent) and P2O5 (0.018 to 0.037 wt percent) and Na2O concentration notably below 0.01 wt percent; d) Calcite and pyrite constitute minor concentration in both sandstones and shales; e) Water quality in the area is characterised as two groups of acidic (pH 3.3-6.4) and near-neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 6.9-7.3) and low pH, high TDS, SO42- and EC are noted at the coal crusher plant which points out to high leaching of trace elements such as Pb and Fe. Na++K+ are dominant in upper sections of North Rumphi and Mhlepa Rivers. Ca2+ cations are dominant at crusher plant, underground mine and lower section of Mhlepa; f) Based on the geochemistry analysis, Na and trace elements such as Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Zn, Rb, Sr and Zr from coal and host rocks have the ability to contribute significantly to deterioration in the ground and surface water quality in the study area. It can be concluded that the coals of the Livingstonia Coalfield belong to Gondwana group deposited in sub-basin with multiple seams embedded in sandstone and shale host rocks.

Market efficiency and buyers' risk strategy in the Japanese coking coal import market are examined. The Japanese coal market is found to be inefficient, Japanese buyers traditionally have purchased coals from the United States at a high price and, since the second half of the 1980's, have paid the highest average price to Canadian producers. Given the abundant low cost Australian coals, this purchasing pattern does not meet the cost minimization criteria for efficiency. This is explained mainly by the buyers' risk management strategy. To more accurately examine price differentiation, the complexity of coal quality is considered first. A statistical method is used to estimate the quality premium as a cost component in price formation. Next a comparison of supply regions and a detailed investigation on market conduct is based on quality-adjusted prices, which are assumed to represent the prices of homogenous coals. Although various reasons are used by researchers to explain Japanese buyers power, this study finds vertical integration of the Japanese companies to be the most important factor creating that power. A detailed survey of vertical integration is made. Finally, a monetary value of the risk premium is estimated by using the partial elasticity of substitution. Total payments by Japanese coking coal buyers for risk premiums are estimated. These represent the extra dollars paid by the Japanese to US and Canadian coal producers for purchasing their coals instead of Australian coals.

Coal quality plays a crucial role both economically and environmentally in the operation of a coal-fired power plant. These plants are designed to operate most efficiently when coal of consistently good quality is used as the feed. For example, the ash content should be monitored to control slagging problems in the burners. For emission control purposes the sulfur content of the feed should be carefully scrutinized. This realization of the importance of coal quality to the end-user has made the prediction of coal quality an important concern. Computerized mine planning systems can be used to help suppliers predict the quality of future coal shipments. One such system was implemented at an underground coal mine to determine its performance in an operating environment. Following some extensive revisions to the system, the results of the implementation exercise showed the ability of this mine planning system to account for coal quality while producing a workable short-range plan. To be of direct use to the end-user, the mine planning results should be adjusted to account for mining dilution and subsequent beneficiation of the run-of-mine coal. To help power plant owners in predicting the quality of the power plant feed a computer program was developed to solve the blending problem faced by plants dependent on multiple sources of supply. This interactive program utilizes the predictions from the mine planning system to obtain a goal programming formulation of the blending problem. This type of problem formulation gives the program the flexibility needed to solve the blending problem in both long and short term time frames. Use of the program in both planning scenarios was illustrated by examples. The results showed the ability of the program to determine the best blend possible based on a set of user-specified objectives. Use of this interactive blending program in conjunction with the mine planning system provides the capability of computerized prediction of coal quality from mine mouth to blended plant feed. Implementation of these planning aids on a routine basis will assist the owners of coal-fired power plants in their attempts to maximize plant efficiency and maintain environmental standards.

A research report submitted to the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016. / The self-heating of coals is a complex problem which has been occurring for centuries. This problem has been fatal to coal miners, an economical challenge to coal mines and a health risk in a release of greenhouse gases to the public in general. Therefore, everyone is affected by the self-heating of coal, which leads to spontaneous combustion when the ignition temperature is reached. There are many test methods that have been used to test spontaneous combustion in coal, but all have one common factor or disadvantage of requiring long periods of time before a conclusion can be deduced. This then creates a need for a rapid and reliable method to test the liability of coal to self-heat in the coal industry and thus the motivation for this project. The thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) method was selected to test the liability of coal to self-heat due to its short analytical duration. The Smith-Glasser oxidation test was selected to validate the TGA results obtained. The main aim of this project is to investigate the reliability of the TGA method to predict the propensity of coal to self-heat. 29 samples from different regions of South Africa were used, prepared to 250 μm for all the analyses and self-heating tests. All samples were analysed for proximate, calorific value, sulphur and petrographic properties before the spontaneous combustion liability tests began. The TGA method followed two tests: 1) the O2 adsorption and 2) the ignition test. Five different heating rates (3, 5, 7, 10, and 20) °C/min were run in order to obtain five derivative slopes which would be used to obtain the TGspc index. The oxygen adsorption test studies the mass increase at low temperature under exposure of air between the temperature ranges of 100 – 300°C. The Smith-Glasser oxidation test method studies the reaction of coal with O2 and calculates the O2 absorbed per amount of coal tested. The Smith-Glasser test results collaborated with most of the other analytical results, and with the TGA results to a certain extent. The TGA spontaneous combustion liability test requires additional analytical work to back up its results because the results do not appear as accurate as the Smith-Glasser oxidation test. It also requires repeatability tests to ensure the integrity of the results. / EM2017

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 1977. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 157-163. / by Leslie I. Boden. / Ph.D.