A Study on the petrography and its Relation to Properties of Some Coals from the Chano-Rikba Area of the North Karanpura coalfield

Systematic petrographic observation of some coals from the Chano-Rikba area of the North Karanpura Coalfield Bihar, has been carried out with a view chiefly to study their unexpectedly caking nature. Presence of appreciable amounts of vitrinite (chiefly collinite) of light grey to grayish white colour and having reflectance similar to coking coals has been detected. The results are analysed and it is shown that the strongly caking nature of the coals may be directly attributed to the presence of this petrographic consitituent. The very difficult washability characteristic of the coals has been attributed to the presence of large amounts of shale in intinate association with the macerals, detected in the samples during this study.