Investigation and measurement of ash content of coal in zirab coal mine - iran using dual energy y - ray and X - ray fluorescence methods

 Coal with low ash content has an important role in the coal andsteel industry. There are different methods to measure the ash content. Theconventional method which is used in most coal mines of Iran, is to burn thecoal and measure the remaining ash. A new method has been recently developedat Nuclear Research Center (NRC) of Iran, which works on the basis of theabsorption of the dual energy g-ray by coal. In this paper we present the resultsobtained from coal mine "Zirab, Central Alborz, Iran" to which we have appliedthis method, and compared the results with those obtained by the conventionalmethod. In addition, the chemical components of the coal samples from six layersof this mine was obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). We have found that forSiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, Na2O and K2O there exists a linear relationship betweenthese components and the ash content, but such a relationship was not obtainedfor Fe2O3, CaO, SO3 and MgO.