Determination of carbon in coal “Blooms”

Abstract

Carbon in weathered coal seams (coal “blooms") was completely recovered by the Walkley‐Black dichromate oxidation procedure employing only heat of dilution. This result conflicts with past findings that mild oxidations give low and variable recoveries of C from natural forms of carbonized‐C such as coal and charcoal. Weathering apparently changes the structure or composition of coal in such a way that C reactivity is increased even though blooms retain many of the chemical and morphological characteristics of carbonized‐C. As a result, C in blooms is measured as organic‐C by standard laboratory analysis. The relative ease of oxidation of C in blooms implies that rates of C transfer from coal blooms to other pools in local C‐cycles may be more rapid than from relatively inert pools such as charcoal and unweathered coal.