Concentration of germanium in the ash of American coals, a progress report

Abstract

The rapidly expanding use of germanium by the electronic industry has stimulated search for new sources of the element. Previous investigators in various parts of the world have found as much as 0.1 to 1. 0 percent germanium in the ash of certain coals. The ash of most coals, however, contains less than 0. 01 percent of the element. As a special part of a general geochemical study of minor elements in American coals, a systematic search is being made for beds rich in germanium. This paper reports analyses made for germanium in the ashes of over 700 samples of American coals. Methods of collecting columnar samples of coals, of ashing the coals, and of analyzing the resultant ash spectrographically are described.