The article considers the study of the patterns of changes in the properties of coals in the metamorphism series and the identification of structural and chemical parameters that allow not only to correctly describe them, but also to use them as an express method of assessment. It is known that physical processes such as adhesion and cohesion play an important role in the processes of coal processing, since the adhesion of dissimilar or homogeneous particles brought into contact is due to intermolecular interaction. Determination of adhesive and cohesive properties of various substances, including solid fossil fuels, is not standardized in hardware. The total dipole moment is one of the indicators characterizing the intermolecular interaction. A method for calculating the total dipole moment based on an additive approach is presented. The calculated values of the total dipole moment of the organic mass of solid fossil fuels in the series “brown coal - hard coal - anthracite” showed a high correlation with the reflectance of vitrinite. As a result of mathematical data processing, equations were obtained for calculating the total dipole moment for brown and hard coals. The application of the equations obtained based on statistical processing of a large database and the calculation according to the proposed method can be used in calculating the parameters of such coal processing processes as briquetting, extraction, flotation, etc.