Multielemental composition of some Slovenian coals determined with k0-INAA method and comparison with ICP-MS method

Abstract

In this multi-elemental study, 34 elements (Ag, As, Au, Ba, Br, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Ga, Hg, Hf, K, La, Mo, Na, Nd, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, Sm, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb, Zn and Zr) were analysed in Slovenian coals from operative (Velenje) and non-operative (Kanizarica and Senovo) coal mines and an imported Indonesia coal using k0-Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (k0-INAA) and compared to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Weaker regressions between both methods ICP-MS and k0-INAA are obtained for following elements: Cs, Co, Eu, Se, Sm and Tb with low concentration (below 1 mg/kg). The k0-INAA data are comparable to the ICP-MS data for the majority of elements. The levels of major elements measured with k0-INAA are as follows: Ca>Fe>K>Na>Sr>Ba. Minor and trace elements, as well as rare earth elements (REEs), are comparable with coal values worldwide. Data of trace elements in coal are important since they are related to air emissions. According to our data obtained with both methods (ICP-MS and k0-INAA) we can conclude that concentrations of trace elements, which impact to human health and are combusted (Indonesian and Velenje coal) in Slovenia are comparable to world averages coal.