Fusinite-rich coal

Each of the materials recognized as belonging to a specific maceral class (according to the criteria shown in Figure 2) has physical and chemical properties that depend upon its composition in the peat swamp and the effects of subsequent metamorphic alteration. Thus, for instance, in all coals there is material derived from the structural tissues ( wood ) of plants. These woody substances (lignin, cellulose) are the dominant components of plants, and hence their derivatives dominate in typical coals. In the peat swamp some of the woody tissues may have been pyrolyzed by fire, forming a carbon-rich char recognized as fusinite in the coal. In some coal layers fusinite may be the dominant maceral, and such layers would be referred to as fusinite-rich types of coal. 

There are certainly lithotypes that can be handpicked from European and American coals that are relatively rich in fusinite and semifusinite. However, it is perhaps significant that the mean content of total fusinite + semifusinite in 697 coal samples in the Penn State/DOE Data Base is 8.9%. On the other hand, the content of inertinite macerals in the Permian coals of Gondwana-land is notoriously high and much of this inertinite material consists of semifusinite (5,26,33,34), the concentration of which can be as high as 50% in the whole seam. 

Samples Studied. From British Seams. The suite of samples was collected and separated by the Coal Survey of the National Coal Board under the direction of Dr. G. W. Fenton, and the authors are indebted to Dr. Fenton for the gift of the samples. The suite consisted of the vitrinites, spore-rich exinites, fusinites and, in one case, the micrinite from five British coal seams of Carboniferous age together with the vitrinites from two coals of higher rank from which it was impracticable to separate the other macerals. The exinites were separated by float-and-sink methods from selected black durain bands, as also... 

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