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. Several undergraduate students 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, recently completed her dissertation on depositional environments of Eocene lignites in western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region.  Another graduate student, Sarah Mardon, investigated the methane and carbon dioxide capacities of some western Kentucky coals.

Jim is the editor-in-chief (retiring at the end of 2009) 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. 

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

Hower, J.C., 2008, Maceral/Microlithotype Partitioning with Particle Size of Pulverized Coal: Examples from Power Plants Burning Central Appalachian and Illinois Basin Coals: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 73, p. 213-218.

Hower, J. C., Valentim, B., Kostova, I.J., Henke, K.R., 2008, Discussion on "Characteristics of Fly Ashes from Full-Scale Coal-Fired Power Plants and Their Relationship to Mercury Adsorption" by Lu et al.: Energy & Fuels, v. 22, p. 1055-1058.

Goodarzi, F., and Hower, J.C., 2008, Classifcation of carbon in Canadian fly ashes and their implications in the capture of mercury: Fuel, v. 87, p. 1949-1957.

Hower,  J.C., Campbell, J.L., Teesdale, W.J., Nejedly, Z., and Robertson, J.D., 2008, Scanning proton microprobe analysis of mercury and other trace elements in Fe-sufides from a Kentucky coal: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 75, p. 88-92.

Hower, J.C., Trinkle, E.J., and Raione, R., 2008, Vickers Microhardness of Telovitrinite and Pseudovitrinite from High Volatile Bituminous Kentucky Coals: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 75, p. 76-80.

Hower, J.C., O'Keefe, J.M.K., Eble, C.F., 2008, Tales from a Distant Swamp: Petrological and Paleobotanical Clues for the Origin of the Sand Coal Lithotype (Mississippian, Valley Fields, Virginia): International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 75, p. 119-126.

O'Keefe, J.M.K., Shultz, M.G., Rimmer, S.M., Hower, J.C., and Popp, J.T., 2008, Paradise (and Herrin) Lost: Marginal Depositional Settings of the Herrin and Paradise Coals, Western Kentucky Coalfield: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 75, p. 144-156.

Hower, J.C., Ruppert, L.F., and Eble, C.F., 2007, Lateral variation in geochemistry, petrology, and palynology in the Elswick coal bed, Pike County, Kentucky: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 69, p. 165-178.

Suárez-Ruiz, I., Hower, J.C., and Thomas, G. A., 2007, Hg and Se Capture and Fly Ash Carbons from Combustion of Complex Pulverizd Feed Blends Mainly of Anthracitic Coal Rank in Spanish Power Plants: Energy & Fuels, v. 21, p. 59-70.

Hower, J.C., Robertson, J.D., Elswick, E.R. Roberts, J.M., Brandsteder, K., Trimble, A.S., and Mardon, S.M., 2007, Further Investigation of the Impact of the Co-combustion of Tire-derived Fuel and Petroleum Coke on the Petrology and Chemistry of Coal Combustion Products: Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, vol. 29, p. 431-461.

Walker, R., Mastalerz, M., Brassell, S., Elswick, E., Hower, J.C., Schimmelmann, A., 2007, Chemistry of thermally altered high volatile bituminous coals from southern Indiana: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 71, p. 2-14.

Hower, J.C., Suárez-Ruiz, I., Mastalerz, M., and Cook, A.C., 2007, Discussion: The investigation of chemical structure of coal macerals via transmitted-light FT-IR microscopy by X. Sun: Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, vol. 67, p. 1433-1437.

Elswick, E.R., Hower, J.C., Carmo, A.M., Sun, T., Mardon, S.M., 2007, Sulfur and Carbon isotope geochemistry of coals and derived combustion by-products: An example from an eastern Kentucky power plant: Applied Geochemistry, v. 22, p. 2065-2077.