Future directions and applications

Coal use is still fundamental to the economic health and development of the global society and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Its use will be impacted by a range of unforeseen shifts. Therefore, it is imperative that we must try to minimize the deleterious impacts of coal use and maximize its benefits. This chapter outlines future direction for research on this topic, and highlights some of the current and future issues that will be needed to advance knowledge of the inorganic geochemistry of coal.