COAL TESTING MAY BE DIVIDED INTO THREE CATEGORIES: PROXIMATE analysis, ultimate analysis, and miscellaneous analysis. Proximate analysis is the determination, by prescribed methods, of the contents of moisture, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon (by difference) content. As currently defined in ASTM D 121Terminology of Coal and Coke, and ASTM D 3176Practice for Ultimate Analysis of Coal and Coke, ultimate analysis involves the determination of carbon and hydrogen content as found in the gaseous products of the complete combustion of the coal, the determination of total sulfur, nitrogen, and ash content in the material as a whole, and the estimation of oxygen content by difference. Miscellaneous analysis is a collective category for various types of physical and chemical tests for coal that are commonly requested by coal producers and buyers. Included in this category are such tests as the determination of calorific value, analysis of the forms of sulfur, analysis of the forms of carbon, chlorine analysis, major and minor elements in ash analysis, trace element analysis, carbon dioxide analysis and determinations of free-swelling index (FSI), grindability, plastic properties of coal, and ash fusibility.