COAL 



Properties 



THE INDIAN COAL INDUSTRY 



Moisture. 



Volatile 

 Hydrocarbons. 



Moisture. 



Evaporation of 

 Water to Coal 

 Consumed. 



These average results, so far as averages go, will be found sufficiently 

 near the truth for all practical purposes. 



The moisture and the ash are the chief detractive features of coal. 

 " Dr. Saise (Rec. GeoL Surv. Ind., 1904, xxxi., 104-7) calls attention, 

 however, to the remarkably constant differences in the percentages of 

 moisture held by coals from the different geological horizons in the fields. 

 In the case of the Barakar stage, which is the lowest in the series, the 

 moisture amounts to only 1 per cent., while in the lower seams of the 

 Raniganj stage it averages 3 -81 and in the upper seams 6 -86 per cent. There 

 is a parallel but less pronounced variation in the amount of volatile hydro- 

 carbons : in coal from the Barakar stage the average is 26'57 per cent. ; in 

 the lower seams of the Raniganj stage it is 31 '70, and in the upper seams 

 32-22 per cent." 



In the Records of the Geological Survey of India (1904, xxxi., 237-9) will 

 be found certain results of the coal and coke assays made by Mr. E. P. 

 Martin and Prof. H. Louis at the instance of the Right Hon. Sir E. Cassel, 

 on carefully procured samples from the Jherria and Raniganj fields. It is 

 explained that the samples reported on had been taken from across the 

 entire working face of the seam, and were not picked from a promiscuous 

 pile at the pit mouth or taken from a particular part of the seam. Space 

 cannot be afforded to republish the tables in the original form in which 

 they appeared, but the following averages of the returns may be here 

 given : 



Commenting on these results, Holland observes : " The beds in 

 which the coal is now being mined in the Jherria field were long 

 ago correlated by the Geological Survey with the Barakar series of 

 the Raniganj coal-field, and it is interesting to notice that the low 

 percentage of moisture recorded by Saise in the coal of the Barakar 

 series in the Raniganj field is characteristic also of the Barakar 

 coal in the Jherria field. In the case of the Barakar coal from the 

 Raniganj field the moisture amounted on an average to TO per cent., 

 whilst in the case of these Jherria coals the average for moisture is 0'90 

 per cent." 



A comprehensive report on the composition and quality of Indian 

 coals, by Dunstan, will be found in the Records of the Geological Survey 

 of India (I.e. 1906), where complete analyses of coal from all fields 

 above mentioned (excepting those recently opened) are recorded. 



In a recent practical experiment conducted with Seebpore coal at 

 the National Jute Mills, Calcutta, by Mr. F. Grover of Leeds, it was found 

 that that particular coal would evaporate 7'97 Ib. of water, equivalent, 



340 



