Variability in the Content of Critical Elements (Be, Co, Ga and Ge) in Bituminous Coal of the Lublin Coal Basin

Abstract

The research on bituminous coal from the Lublin Coal Basin (LCB) has shown high variability of the chemical elements Co, Ge and Ga. An exception is beryllium that features medium variability. Analysis of the correlation between the elements confirms the results of previous studies on the occurrence of the statistically significant correlation between gallium and cobalt. The obtained contents of particular critical elements differed much more from those presented up-to-date in both published and unpublished scientific reports on the LCB. The research did not confirm regularities and high concentrations of the elements in the LCB coals, as postulated earlier. However, much higher concentrations of the elements were detected in the seam footwalls. The control analysis of the samples performed by two independent laboratories indicated huge discrepancies in the results, especially for the content of germanium, due to very low values and difficulty in marking this element.