Determination of trace and minor elements in coal: A comparison between instrumental photon and thermal neutron activation analysis

Instrumental photon and neutron activation techniques have been compared through the determination of sixteen major, minor and trace constituents in two British Columbian coals and a standard coal. Between the two techniques, the results generally agreed to within one standard deviation with replicate precision being maintained, for both techniques, below twenty percent at worst and down to five percent or better for several elements. Almost all of the elements having environmental, industrial or economic significance in fossil fuels can be determined with good sensitivity by either of these two methods, both of which share the advantages of being non-destructive and multi-element in nature and sufficiently accurate as demonstrated in this paper.