Petrographic composition of lignite from the Szczerców deposit, Polish Lowlands

Abstract Macroscopic and microscopic composition of lignite from the Szczerców deposit belonging to the Bełchatów Lignite Mine (Polish Lowlands) has been examined. The macroscopic composition was determined according to the newest lithological classification of humic coal. On this basis, it has been shown that the main lithotypes occurring in the Szczerców deposit are the detritic and xylodetritic lignites. The petrographic composition of the investigated lignite was determined microscopically for 11 samples. The examined lignite is predominantly composed of macerals from the huminite group. It is in the range from 75.2 to 86%, including atrinite (23.1–40.7%, averaging 28.9%) and densinite (18.2–41.4 %, averaging 24.9%). It also demonstrated that the statistical variability of the macerals content from the huminite group in the studied lignite is very weak in all samples. In addition, the random reflectance of ulminite was measured traditionally. The results, ranging from 0.247 to 0.282%, with the maximum permissible standard deviation < 0.07, were achieved for all analysed lignite samples.