GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF JAGANNATH COLLIERY FROM TALCHER COALFIELD, ODISHA, INDIA

Abstract

Coal is one of the primary sources of energy, accounting for about 67% of the total energy consumption in the country. India has some of the largest reserves of coal in the world. Indian coal has high ash content and low calorific value. However, with the present rate of around 0.8 million tons average daily coal extraction in the country, the reserves are likely to last over 100 years. The energy derived from coal in India is about twice that of energy derived from oil, as against the world, where energy derived from coal is about 30% lower than energy derived from oil. The present study encompasses the Proximate and Ultimate analysis of coal samples collected from Jagannath colliery, Talcher coal field, Odisha and to find out the quality and grade of coal. For this 16 samples have been collected and the chemical analysis has been carried out. From the results of proximate analysis it seems that the moisture + ash percentage is in between 30 — 35 % which indicates that the coal is of non-coking type. From the fixed carbon percentage (40- 50 %) the coal is classified to be of sub-bituminous rank. High moisture (>2 %), medium volatile content (22 — 33 %) and high ash percentage (>35 %) indicates that the coal can be used in small scale industries and thermal power plants for combustion process. From the Ultimate analysis it indicates that the low values of Nitrogen (N) and Sulfur (S) does not hamper the quality of coal and thus indicates that the coal can be well used for the generation of heat in industries.