Coal petrography in the Ruhr hard coal industry

After a short historical retrospect on the main flagstones of evolution of coal petrography from mere to applied science, its most important applications in the hardcoal industry of the Ruhr will be presented. Geologic/stratigraphic problems are solved conventionally by qualitative and semiqualitative comparison of coal facies. Analyses of maceral composition and coal type have become indispensable whenever chemico-technological issues in a context of use and quality control of hardcoals in coking plants, briquetting plants and power stations have to be solved. Thanks to the intimate cooperation of science and industry substantial progress was made in developing analytic methods and novel instrumentation. In this way the knowledge of important relations between coal as a raw material and its products could be gained. Even if coal production were declining further the coal industry in the Ruhr region will not allow cooperation between science and practice to be interrupted. This is the only way to meet the ever more stringent quality specifications for coal and coke products.