Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program

Other coal sample banks are also in existence. The Penn State Sample Bank at Peimsylvania State University has the most diverse collection of samples (86). The Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program at the Illinois State Geological Survey specializes in samples from the Illinois Basin (89). The European Center for Coal Specimens has a significant collection of samples from the entire world and is located in Eygelshoven in The Netherlands (88). Each makes samples available in kilogram quantities. 

Illicit substances, testing for, 12 96-98 Illinois Basin Coal Sample program,... 

The samples from the Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program contain 0.1 to 0.2 wt% elemental sulfur. The only exception was reported by Narayan and coworkers who recently reported that IBCSP-2 contained about 1% elemental sulfur (7). Further work led to the realization that they had inadvertently... 

The notion that naturally occurring organic polysulfides in coal decompose to form elemental sulfur has also been tested in another way. Buchanan and his associates have shown that the 32S/34S ratios of the elemental sulfur and the pyrite in another Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program coal are similar and different from the 32S/34S ratio for the organic material in the same coal (Buchanan, D., private communication, 1989). This result infers that pyrite is the source of elemental sulfur. Thus, we conclude that oxidative chemical and bacteriological processes convert pyrite to elemental sulfur when pristine coals are exposed to the atmosphere. 

Two high-organic sulfur bituminous coals (IBC-107 and C-2) and one low organic sulfur bituminous coal (IBC-109) were selected as precursors to prepare the activated carbons. The IBC-107 and IBC-109 coals were obtained from Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program [30]. C-2 coal was directly mined from active Illinois coal basins. Samples were initially crushed to about 5 mm size particles and then pulverized (Holmes Model 500) and ground (Quaker City Model 4-E) to decrease the particle size to less than 1 mm. Samples were subsequently sieved with U.S. standard sieves (Tyler Standard Screen) to obtain -16 -i- 65 mesh (1.000-0.210 mm) samples. 

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