A procedure has been developed for determining the chemical composition and relative abundance of the amorphous or glassy material, as well as crystalline phases, present in coarse coal gasification ash, in order to assist in predicting the behaviour of the material in cement/brick/concrete applications. The procedure is based on a combination of quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemical analysis and electron microprobe studies. XRD analysis indicates that the clinker samples contain a number of crystalline high temperature phases, including anorthite, mullite, cristobalite, quartz and diopside. Quantitative evaluation using Rietveld-based techniques has been used to determine the percentages of both the individual crystalline phases and the glass component. These data were then combined with the chemistry of the crystalline phases and the overall chemical composition of the ash to estimate the chemical composition of the glass phase, which is typically the most abundant component present in the different materials. Although there is some degree of scatter, comparison between the inferred glass composition from XRD and bulk chemistry and actual data on the glass composition using electron microprobe techniques suggest that the two approaches are broadly consistent. The microprobe further indicates that a range of compositions are present in the glassy and crystalline components of the ashes, including Si-Al-rich glass, metakaolin and Fe-Ca-Mg-Ti phases, as well as quartz, anorthite and an aluminophosphate material. Electron microprobe and XRD studies also show that pyrrhotite (FeS), representing a high temperature transformation product of pyrite, is present in some clinker and partially burnt carbonaceous shale samples. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.