Jim Hower is an adjunct professor on the geology faculty with his primary work conducted in the Environmental & Coal Technologies Group at the Center for Applied Energy Research. With cooperation of the Kentucky Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey, he maintains active research in the petrology and geochemistry of coals. Much of the research conducted at the CAER is directed towards the utilization of coal and products derived from coal. Recent research has focused on the mercury content of fly ash carbons. Geological Sciences undergraduate students, Maria Marks and Wesley Buchanan, are working with him on Hg and power plant research. Other research is conducted in cooperation with many of the coal-burning utilities in the eastern United States. A graduate student, Jen O’Keefe, is studying depositional environments of Eocene lignites in western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region.  Another graduate student, Sarah Mardon, plans to investigate the methane and carbon dioxide capacities of some western Kentucky coals.

Jim is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Coal Geology (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/503337/description#description) and was an author of the Atlas of Coal Geology (http://www.tsop.org/cdatlas.htm), published by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and The Society for Organic Petrology. He is also the Eastern Region Director for the Combustion Byproducts Recycling Consortium (http://wvwri.nrcce.wvu.edu/CBRC/), a national program funded by the US Department of Energy.

For more informationon Jim Hower's program:
http://www.caer.uky.edu/coalash/research/petrologylab.shtml

Sakulpitakphon, T., Hower,  J.C.  Schram, W.H., and Ward, C.R., 2004, Tracking Mercury from the Mine to the Power Plant: Geochemistry of the Manchester Coal Bed, Clay County, Kentucky:  International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 57, p. 127-141.

Hower, J.C., and Robertson, J.D., 2004, Chemistry and petrology of fly ash derived from the co-combustion of Western United States coal and tire-derived fuel: Fuel Processing Technology, v. 85, p. 359-377.

Hower, J.C., and Eble, C.F., 2004, Coal Facies Studies in the Eastern United States:  International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 58, p. 3-32.

Algeo, T.J., Schwark, L., and Hower, J.C., 2004, High-resolution stratigraphy and geochemistry of the Hushpuckney Core Shale (Swope Formation, Eastern Kansas): Implications for climato-environmental dynamics of the Late Pennsylvanian midcontinent seaway: Chemical Geology, v. 206, p. 259-288.                 

Mardon, S.M., and Hower, J.C., 2004, Impact of coal properties on coal combustion by-product quality: Examples from a Kentucky power plant:  International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 59, p. 153-169.

Mastalerz, M., Hower, J.C., Mardon, S.M., Drobniak, A., and Lis, G., 2004, From in-situ coal to fly ash: Examples from Indiana mines and power plants:  International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 59, p. 171-192.

Groppo, J., Robl, T., and Hower, J.C., 2004, The beneficiation of coal combustion ash, in Energy, Waste, and the Environment - A Geochemical Perspective (R. Gieré and P. Stille, eds.): The Geological Society of London Special Publication 236, p. 247-262.

Hower, J.C., Suárez-Ruiz, I., and Mastalerz, M., 2005, An approach toward a combined scheme for the petrographic classification of fly ash: Revision and clarification: Energy & Fuels, vol. 19, p. 653-655.

Hower, J.C., Ruppert, L.F., Eble, C.F., and Clark, W.L., 2005, Geochemistry, petrology, and palynology of the Pond Creek coal bed, northern Pike and southern Martin counties, Kentucky:  International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 62, p. 167-181.

Hower, J.C., Robl, T.L., Anderson, C., Thomas, G.A., Sakulpitakphon, T., Mardon, S.M., and Clark, W.L., 2005, Characteristics of coal utilization products (CUBs) from Kentucky power plants, with emphasis on Mercury content:  Fuel, vol. 84, p. 1338-1350.

Greb, S.F., Eble, C.F., and Hower, J.C., 2005, Subtle structural influences on coal thickness and distribution: examples from the Stockton coal (Bolsovian), Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, U.S.A., in Warwick, P. (Ed.), Coal System Analysis, Geological Society of America, Special Publication 387, p. 31-50.

Hower, J.C., Eble, C.F., and Quick, J.C., 2005, Mercury in eastern Kentucky coal: International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 62, p. 223-236.

Hower, J.C., Thomas, G.A., Mardon, S.M., and Trimble, A.S., 2005, Impact of co-combustion of petroleum coke and coal on fly ash quality: Case study of a Western Kentucky power plant:  Applied Geochemistry, vol. 20, p. 1309-1319.

Ruppert, L.F., Hower, J., and Eble, C., 2005, Local-scale Variability of Arsenic in the Fire Clay coal zone, Middle Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation, eastern Kentucky:  International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 63, p. 27-35.

Stewart, A.K., Massey, M., Padgett, P.L., Rimmer, S.M., and Hower, J.C., 2005, Influence of a basic intrusion on the vitrinite reflectance and chemistry of the Springfield (No. 5) coal, Harrisburg, IL: International Journal of Coal Geology, vol. 63, p. 58-67.