COAL QUALITY TRENDS AND DISTRIBUTION OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS TRACE-ELEMENTS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY COALS

Coal in the Eastern Kentucky coalfield has been, and continues to be, a valuable energy resource, especially for the electric utility indust ry. However, Federal mandates in Titles III and IV of the Clean Air Ac t Amendments of 1990 have placed increasingly stringent demands on the type and grade of coal that can be burnt in an environmentally accept able manner. Therefore, a greater understanding of the spatial and tem poral distribution of thickness and quality parameters, and the geolog ic factors that control their distribution, is critical if the Eastern Kentucky coalfield is to continue to be a major producer of high-qual ity coal. Information from the Kentucky Geological Survey's Coal Resou rce Information System database is used in this paper to document the geographic and stratigraphic distribution of important factors such as bed thickness, calorific value, ash yield and total sulfur content. T he distribution of 15 elements that naturally occur in trace amounts i n Kentucky coal is also discussed, as these elements may require monit oring with passage of Title III of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 199 0. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.