Trace and major element pollution originating from coal ash suspension and transport processes

Abstract

Coal ash obtained by coal combustion in the "Nikola Tesla A" power plant in Obrenovac, near Belgrade, Yugoslavia, is mixed with water of the Sava river and transported to the dump. In order to assess pollution caused by leaching of some minor and major elements during ash transport through the pipeline, two sets of samples (six samples each) were subjected to a modified sequential extraction. The first set consisted of coal ash samples taken immediately after combustion, while the second set was obtained by extraction with river water, imitating the processes that occur in the pipeline. Samples were extracted consecutively with distilled water and a 1 M solution of KCl, pH 7, and the differences in extractability were compared in order to predict potential pollution. Considering concentrations of seven trace elements as well as five major elements in extracts from a total of 12 samples, it can be concluded that lead and cadmium do not present an environmental threat during and immediately after ash transport to the dump. Portions of zinc, nickel and chromium are released during the ash transport, and arsenic and manganese are released continuously. Copper and iron do not present an environmental threat due to element leaching during and immediately after the coal ash suspension and transport. On the contrary, these elements, as well as chromium, become concentrated during coal ash transport. Adsorbed portions of calcium, magnesium and potassium are also leached during coal ash transport.

Assessment of Seasonal Enrichment of Heavy Metals in Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter of a Sub-Urban Indian City

“…It further supports the idea that the major source of Pb in ambient air was resuspension of road side soil and dust. The concentration of As was found to be higher in residential area, the enrichment was observed in commercial and industrial area showing that smelting, combustion of fossil fuel (Salmon et al, 1978;Pacyna, 1984), resuspension of coal ash (Popovic, Djordjevic, & Polic, 2001) and industrial operations (Mahadevan, Minakshi, & Mishra, 1985) were probably, the major sources of As in RSPM apart from other sources. Enrichment of Ni was low in summer and increased in subsequent seasons except in winter where the enrichment dipped a bit.…”

Stigma and Attachment: Performance of Identity in an Environmentally Degraded Place

“…At the heart of the industrial complex is an 800 MW thermoelectric power plant (TEP) which currently supplies 58% of the total thermal electricity production in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the civil war (1992)(1993)(1994)(1995) Coal ash disposal poses three main environmental threats to the landfill sites and surrounding areas: (i) contamination of the food chain through growing crops and rearing livestock on abandoned soil-covered disposal sites; (ii) dispersion of fine ash particles from uncovered and active disposal sites into the surrounding environment; and (iii) effluent discharge from coal ash deposits entering surface waters and contaminating groundwater (Popovic et al 2001). Health problems and diseases associated with coal ash are related to the elevated concentrations of potential pollutants such as heavy metals and metalloids (Gupta 1999;Finkelman et al 2002).…”

Distribution and availability of arsenic in soils from the industrialized urban area of Beijing, China

“…Soils in industrial sites can be contaminated with As due to a number of applications to which As has been put, including electro-photography, catalysts, antifouling paints, dyes and soaps, ceramics, battery plates, optoelectronic devices, semiconductors, pigments, insecticides, herbicides, pressure-treated wood, fossil fuel processing and combustion, fertilizer manufacturing, compounds in wood preservatives, insecticide and pesticide production, and disposal and incineration of industrial waste and mining of arsenic containing ores and smelting (O'Neill, 1990;National Research Council, 1999;Popovic et al, 2001). As can also be released from high temperature processes involved in industrial production, because fossil fuel, which contained high level of arsenic (5.6 Â 1 À1 À 1.6 Â 10 2 mg kg…”