COAL STRUCTURE CHARACTERIZATION AND ANALYSIS BY DIGITAL TEXTURE PROCESSING

Coal is a non-homogeneous substance; it consists of different constitu ents called macerals, each one characterized by its own set of propert ies. Macerals differ from mineral constituents of rocks because they d o not have a well defined chemical composition. The purpose of this pa per is to describe the use of digital processing techniques based on t he analyses of sample images to characterize coals taking into account the reflectance-textural characteristics of macerals. These character istics were recognized, analysed and modelled. A pattern vector charac teristic of each maceral was thus identified. The procedure is based o n the processing of data (digital images) acquired by means of reflect ed light optical microscopy. Polished specimens of coal ores are consi dered for the study. In such a way it is pointed out a suitable proced ure for a quantitative characterization of the different macerals cons tituting the coal.