Coal data, statistical analysis

Another rapid technique for characterizing non-volatile materials which has been applied to coal macerals is pyrolysis mass spectrometry (Py-MS) (82-84). The evaluation of the complex data produced by this technique has been aided by the use of statistical analysis. Homologous series of molecules can be identified and variation between the various maceral groups is quite evident. 

Qatar Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electrieity, Coal, Energy Information Admisnistration, Retrieved from file ///Z /NewCABsW6/Qatar/Full.html... 

Statistical analyses were applied to the M2J data from both thermal analysis experiments and measurements on coals swollen with pyridine... 

Although detectable concentrations for several elements could be found after fusion, it is felt that the volatility of mercury and possibly lead and tin would make their determination by lithium tetraborate fusion questionable. Table I shows the elements selected for analysis and the accuracy and precision data for the standards used to check the fusion method. Each standard in Table I was of known composition and siliceous in nature. The standards were separately prepared 10 times so that a statistical evaluation of the results could be made. The standards used were USGS Standards G-2, W-l, BCR-1, commercially prepared silica-alumina based standards, and unfused synthetic standards prepared by the Coal Research Bureau (9, 10, 11, 12). The synthetic standards were used because no commercially prepared standard having... 

The data generated from these analyses and tests was evaluated by statistical methods and correlation coefficients have been determined between all pairs of variables. Analysis of this data has revealed significant differences in the chemical properties of the coal from different fields and enables the selection of coal with specific properties for particular applications. Table 4 illustrates some of these differences by showing the range of values determined for selected coal properties from 219 samples (11 coal fields). Typical values from the two open cut mines currently operating in the Latrobe Valley are shown for comparison. These differences in chemical properties between the different coal fields are generally more significant than lateral variations within a particular field (ie between different bores within a field) and they are primarily related to rank. 

It was suggested that computer-based data analysis techniques (often involving multivariate statistical methods) can aid in this classification or simplification, as has been so profitable in other thermochemical conversion endeavours, for example, as applied to coal and petroleum. Again, it was emphasized that there is a need for a critical synthesis of the wealth of experimental data into regimes of behaviour, and simpler predictive equations or simulations, that are useful to the technologists in industry who are designing industrial scale reactors. 

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