Splint Coal

Sphtterkohle, /. splint coal, sphttern, v.i. t. shatter, shiver, splinter, split (up). 

Splint coals are durain-rich and can be massive (non-banded) or banded. Most vitrain- and clarain-rich banded coals break into small blocky pieces along joints called cleats. Vitrain and clarain are brittle and break easily. 

Cannel coal predominately durain with lesser amounts of vitrain than in splint coal and small quantities of fusain spores can be seen under the microscope. See also Coal. 

Splint coal U.S. Bureau of Mines term for durain with some vitrain and clarain and a small amount of fusain. 

The size and distribution of pores and the size, distribution, and identity of minerals in coal specimens from an eastern Kentucky splint coal and the Illinois No. 6 coal seam were determined by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM). The observed porosity varies with the macerals such that the finest pores (<2-5 nm) are located in vitrinite, with a broad range of coarser porosity (40-500 nm) associated with the macerals exinite and inertinite. Elemental analyses, for elements of atomic number 11 or greater, in conjunction with selected area diffraction (SAD) experiments served to identify the source of the titanium observed in the granular material as the mineral rutile. Only sulfur could be de-tected in the other coal macerals. Dark-field microscopy is introduced as a means for determining the domain size of the coal macerals. This method should prove useful in the determination of the molecular structure of coal. 

Sample Selection and Preparation. Samples were selected from two high-volatile bituminous coals, namely, Illinois No. 6 bright coal and an eastern Kentucky splint coal from Perry County. The choice of these coals was based on the desire to contrast the fine structure of coals of equal rank but of different lithotypes. For both coals the samples were obtained from limited regions of their respective coal seams. Detailed coal petrography was performed on these samples, and TEM specimens were subsequently selected from representative polished blocks. 

Figure 1. TEM of splint coal ((E) exinite, (V) vitrinite, (GI) granular inertinite, (OP) opaque particles, and (P) pores in exinites)...

The porosity associated with the exinitic maceral of the splint coal can be seen more clearly in Figure 4. The large, irregularly shaped pores often form distinct tubular channels, which extend from the apparent center of the spore exine to the boundary between the spore and the surrounding inertinite. Commonly the channels contain spherical particles, who.se identity as the mineral aragonite (CaC03) was based on... 

Figure 5. Fine porosity observed in vitrinite fragment in splint coal by TEM...

Other terms that are often employed in this chapter are splint coal and semisplint coal (Table 4.5) (Parks and O Donnell, 1948). Splint coal contains more than 30% opaque matter together with some anthraxylon (more than 5% but usually only in minor amounts) while attritus is always the... 

II. Non-banded coals Characteristics anthraxylon not evident >30% Splint coal... 

Cannel coal Boghead coal Bright coal Semisplint coal Splint coal... 

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