Estimate of sulfur, arsenic, mercury, fluorine emissions due to spontaneous combustion of coal gangue: An important part of Chinese emission inventories

Abstract

a b s t r a c tA rough estimate of the annual amount of sulfur, arsenic, mercury and fluoride emission from spontaneous combustion of coal gangue in China was determined. The weighted mean concentrations of S, As, Hg, and F in coal gangue are 1.01%, 7.98, 0.18, and 365.54 mg/kg, respectively. Amounts of S, As, Hg, and F emissions from coal gangue spontaneous combustion show approximately 1.13 Mt, and 246, 45, and 63,298 tons in 2013, respectively. The atmospheric release amount of sulfur from coal gangue is more than one tenth of this from coal combustion, and the amounts of As, Hg, and F are close to or even exceed those from coal combustion. China's coal gangue production growth from 1992 to 2013 show an obvious growth since 2002. It may indicate that Chinese coal gangue has become a potential source of air pollution, which should be included in emission inventories.

Synchronous thermal analyses and kinetic studies on a caged-wrapping and sustained-release type of composite inhibitor retarding the spontaneous combustion of low-rank coal

“…Self-oxidation and subsequent spontaneous combustion of low-rank coal is one of the major problems for coal mining industry, which remains quite common to occur in underground goafs [1], shallow-buried coalfields [2], coal stockpiles [3] and even coal gangue [4]. The associated detrimental effects involve huge personal casualties, loss of property and burnout of energy resources, which, in turn, produces serious environmental concerns [5].…”

Fluorine in Chinese Coal: A Review of Distribution, Abundance, Modes of Occurrence, Genetic Factors and Environmental Effects

“…The health problems caused by fluorine due to domestic coal use in SW China have been reported and many people in the area suffer from various fluorosis [2,[77][78][79].…”

“…When plant leaves come into contact with fluorine, it can damage the leaves or even kill the plant, while fluorine found in plants can be transferred into human or animal bodies through the food chain. In general, coal gangue has a much higher content of fluorine than coal, which is released into the aquatic and atmospheric environment during combustion and leaching [2,75].…”

“…In general, fluorine is enriched in Chinese coal and widely distributed, particularly in southwestern (SW) and northern China. With the large amount of domestic coal consumption and commercial coal use, fluorine-related environmental pollution is very serious [2][3][4], such as endemic fluorosis resulted from domestic use in SW China. Many studies have focused on the geochemistry of fluorine in coal [5,6], including abundance, distribution, modes of occurrence, and genetic factors, providing more details about the fluorine in Chinese coals [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

Equilibrium Strategy Based Recycling Facility Site Selection towards Mitigating Coal Gangue Contamination

“…For example, China is one of the largest coal producing countries, with coal accounting for 67.5% of the primary energy supply [5]. Coal gangue, a by-product of coal mining and washing, is a major solid waste [6][7][8][9][10] that not only occupies plenty of land, but also results in a series of environmental problems, such as the water, soil and atmospheric pollution [11][12][13][14][15]. Therefore, under pressure from increased coal consumption and the subsequent increased environmental pollution, there is an urgent need to control coal gangue contamination.…”