Accreditation in Petrographic Analysis
The ICCP organises accreditation exercises through which individual petrographers can be granted ICCP Accreditation in the techniques of petrographic analyses. Accreditation is granted only to petrographers who participate in and pass one of the periodic exercises, and applies only to work undertaken by the named analyst, who will remain accredited up to the expiry date of the Accreditation Certificate. Cerificates are normally valid for 2 years. Laboratories are encouraged to seek accreditation for all of their analysts. Currently, ICCP offers accreditation in:
- Single Coal Accreditation Program (SCAP) for both maceral group and vitrinite random reflectance analyses. In this program the ability of an analyst to identify and quantify the maceral groups and to identify and measure the vitrinite reflectance of a coal sample according to ISO standards is tested.
- Dispersed Organic Matter Vitrinite Reflectance Accreditation Program (DOMVR). In this program the ability of an analyst to identify and measure the reflectance of vitrinite occurring as dispersed vitrinite in rocks such as carbonaceous shales or hydrocarbon source rocks is tested.
- Coal Blends Accreditation Program (CBAP). In this program the ability of an analyst to identify the number of coals in a blend and their petrographic characteristics such as vitrinite reflectance and maceral group composition according to ISO standards is tested. Organic petrology is the only technique able to yield information of the individual component coals within a coal blend.
In the future, the ICCP may offer accreditation in other petrographic methods.
The ICCP SCAP program has been now running since 1995 and has increased the participants up to 89 in the 2008 Round. The success of this program led to the implementation of two additional programs in 2006 (The DOMVR and the CBAP Programs). These programs are now consolidated and have 38 and 19 participants, respectively in the 2008-2009 Round.
Call for Participation in the ICCP Accreditation Programs
(Round 2010-2011)
The programs avalilable are:
Single Coal Accreditation Program (SCAP). Organizer: Kimon Christanis (christan_(at)_upatras.gr)
Dispersed Organic Matter Vitrinite Reflectance Accreditation Program (DOMVR). Organizer: Alan Cook (alanccook_(at)_ozemail.com.au)
Coal Blends Accreditation Program (CBAP). Organizer: Isabel Suárez-Ruiz (isruiz_(at)_incar.csic.es)
If you are interested in participating in any of them please contact the organizer.
You can find further information in this pdf.