ICCP Training Course – Organic Petrology for Industrial Applications

The ICCP Training Course on Organic Petrology for Industrial Applications was held successfully at the Geolab in the Great Refractor Building on Telegraphenberg in Potsdam.

The International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP), in conjunction with Geolab, DGGV,  Teichmüller Foundation and GFZ (the German Research Centre for Geosciences), organised this training course, which was centred on the petrology of a wide variety of coals. Practical applications and technological importance were stressed. While a basic geological understanding was assumed, the course was designed for those with little or no knowledge of coal. It was therefore suitable for undergraduate or post graduate students as well as established professionals who require a more thorough understanding of petrological aspects of coals.

General Outline Theory:

• Genesis (geology and geochemistry)
• Coal Coal Composition: Lithotypes, Macerals and Microlithotypes
• Coal rank and rank parameters.
• Petrographic analyses: maceral and microlithotype analyses, vitrinite reflectance analysis and the use of fluorescence.
• Basic factors controlling quality and technological behavior of coal.

Organic petrology applied to:

• Coal Mining and beneficiation
• Coal carbonization
• Coal combustion and co-combustion
• Coal gasification
• Coal liquefaction
• Coal derived carbon materials
• Environmental issues

Practical session on petrographic techniques: The use of the reflected light microscope, identification of coal components, point-counting analysis, reflectance measurements, fluorescence analysis (all by pre scanned analyses on a screen with the group) on coals of different type and rank, coal blends, residues from coal utilization….       Practical session facilities will be provided by Hilgers Technisches Büro, using a microscope with FOSSIL software for reflectance measuement, documentation and training.

Presenters Isabel Suárez-Ruiz, Spain & Walter Pickel, Australia

Isabel Suarez-Ruiz

Isabel Suárez Ruiz is a geologist and a scientific researcher at the Instituto Nacional del Carbon (INCAR-CSIC, Spain) working in the field of fundamental and applied organic petrology.  She received her PhD in 1988 from the University of Oviedo (Spain)  for her doctoral thesis in oil shales and source rocks. She has spent extensive periods of time carrying out research in petrology and organic geochemistry on rocks containing dispersed organic matter, coals, and solid residues from coal utilization, in well-known laboratories in France (Orléans, post-doctoral studies) and in United States (Carbondale in Illinois,  as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Geology; and Lexington  in Kentucky as Visiting Scientist). She also spent  shorter periods of time in the Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo (Mexico DF in Mexico)  and in the Instituto Colombiano del Petroleo, ICP-ECOPETROL (Bucaramanga in Colombia) working in organic petrology applied to conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon systems exploration. Moreover, she also developed multiple international collaborations with USA, France, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Brazil, and national with  Oviedo, Salamanca, Barcelona, Huelva, Almeria, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Sevilla Universities  and  Research Institutions  in Spain. Nowadays, she  is the manager of the Organic Petrography Laboratory at the INCAR-CSIC, she is also member of Scientific International Committees, Chair of the Commission III of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP)  and she was  Vice-president and President of The Society of Organic Petrology (TSOP). She is author and co-author  of a significant number of  papers (about one  hundred), book chapters, a book and two ATLAS always focused on topics of  coal and organic petrology. In the last years she has received several international Awards recognizing  her  scientific and research work and  contributions to the science).

Walter Pickel

Walter Pickel received his PhD from the Rheinish Westfaelische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, Germany in 1991. He taught and worked at RWTH until 1998. Afterwards he joined CSIRO Petroleum in Sydney, Australia as a senior research scientist. In 2003 he joined Harold Read & Associates and co-founded Coal & Organic Petrology Services P/L in Sydney in 2004, a company of which he is the managing director. Apart from teaching at Aachen University, he has been giving classes and workshops at Cologne University, in Chile, Indonesia and Australia. He was appointed visiting professor at the Instituto de Geologia Economica Aplicada –GEA at the University of Concepcion, Chile in 2000. He is author/co-author of some 80 reviewed papers and abstracts. He is a member of the ICCP since 1991.

Costs

Company/Professional           € 1300
Government/non-profit           € 700
Student                                         € 250

Cost for the course excludes travel, accommodation and meals except where stated. Costs include course notes, lunches and coffee, and course dinner.

Course language is English. Space is limited and will be on a first come basis. A detailed course outline will become available in June 2015.  If you want to register for the course, please use  the  online registration from. After registration, you will receive a confirmation and  an invoice from the ICCP treasurer Jen Pearson.

For technical information, please contact the ICCP Vice President Peter Crosdale at peter.crosdale@energyrc.com.au, for logistical information, please contact Ms. Antje Treutler at treutler@gfz-potsdam.de.

Venue   

The training is given at Building A27/ Big Refractor, Geolab at the Telegraphenberg in Potsdam

Accomodation

Please book the hotel of your choice in time, because September is a busy months in Potsdam.

Mercure Hotel

This hotel is closest to the train station and the meeting venue.

Please make your own reservations.

Prices: Room incl. breakfast:  ca. 100-120 €

Mercure Hotel Potsdam City

Lange Brücke 1 14467 Potsdam,

Germany Tel.: + 49 331 27 22

Fax: + 49 331 27 20 233

E-mail: Michael.Ebert@mercure-hotel-potsdam.de Hotel website

Steigenberger Hotel Sanssouci

The Steigenberger Hotel Sanssouci  is situated just 500 metres from the famous summer residence “Castle Sanssouci” of Frederick the Great and its lovely park grounds.

Find more information at the hotel website. Prices:  €  100-150.

There are several other hotels in Potsdam in all price ranges. Please check the internet.

Field Trip

A field trip will be organised to the East German Lignite Mines on Saturday, 5 September 2015 together with participants of the 67^th ICCP meeting.  The field trip will visit the open cast mine Welzow Süd and the power station ‘Schwarze Pumpe’. The costs for the field trip are  € 80. Costs include travel, field trip guide, lunch and beverages. Please indicate on the registration form if you wish to participate in the field trip.