Carbon and nitrogen isotope characterization of imported coals in South Korea

According to recent statistics on total global coal production, the coal consumption rate has continuously increased from 4,699 Mton in 2000 to 8,025 Mton in 2022 (International Energy Agency, IEA, 2022). [...]approximately 7% (300 million tons) of the total coal consumption in China has been imported from Indonesia (65.8%), Russia (17.4%), and Mongolia (3%) (International Energy Agency, IEA, 2022). Widory and Javoy (2003) identified the contribution of CO2 sources (e.g., vehicles, heating sources, and human respiration) in the urban atmosphere using a combination of carbon isotopes and CO2 concentrations. [...]the objectives of this study were to analyze the multi-isotopic composition of coal used mainly in Korea and to preliminarily evaluate whether it is possible to judge whether greenhouse gases derived from China contribute to the atmosphere in Korea using the isotopic composition of coal. Due to the lack of correlation between δ13C values and C content in coal, Suto and Kawashima (2016) suggested other factors besides coalification processes, such as photosynthetic fractionation associated with geological time. [...]the C isotopic composition of the coal in this study was assumed to be determined by the factors suggested by Suto and Kawashima (2016).