Oxygen demineralized coals

However, in spite of the reliance on the difference method, over the last two decades the direct determination of oxygen in coal has been achieved by use of neutron activation (Volborth, 1979a,b Mahajan, 1985 Volborth et al., 1987). The concentration of oxygen is determined by measuring the radiation from the sample. The method is nondestructive and rapid, but if only the organic oxygen is to be determined, then the sample must first be demineralized. 

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