Coal, why we should not burn it.
It contains lead and mercury.
Air pollution results from burning coal, releasing lead and mercury particulate matter into the atmosphere, and other metals, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, cadmium and selenium. Arsenic, chromium and selenium are needed by our bodies in trace amounts only, but cadmium, lead and mercury are toxic at any amount (Imin, et al., 2020; Dunnivant, 2017).
Also released are uranium and thorium creating a major source of radioactivity. These pollutants are largely trapped and sequestered in western powerplants, although the problem of polluted fly ash remains, but are not always captured in India (Agarwalla et al., 2021), and are reducing in China after the 2014 introduction of their ultra-low emission standards policy (Tang et al., 2019).
The burning of fossil fuels and the associated emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are of great importance in climate change. Fossil fuels include oil, gas and coal, while renewable energy sources include bioenergy, direct solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, and wind energy. Using renewable energy can offer other benefits, as well as reduced CO2 emission, more local employment, less major accidents, greater energy access and security, and less air pollution (Bruckner et al., 2014).
Coal contains elements in higher concentrations than in the original plant material through the natural process of making coal, involving high pressures and heat underground, driving out the water content and compressing the organic carbon, creating coal. This results in the elements previously present in trace amounts being concentrated to relatively high amounts. Lead and mercury released when coal is burnt, travel with the wind and eventually fall to earth, often in rain (Cherry & Guthrie, 1977).
Coal has provided important heat and energy over many decades and has allowed for technological changes in society, but it has also come at a great cost. These costs need to be included when comparing with renewable energy alternatives now available.
Cost such as damage to the landscape from mining, transport costs, the toxic metals in the fly ash (Sandeep et al., 2016), the atmospheric pollution after burning already mentioned, the radioactivity released and of course the large amounts of carbon dioxide produced, all indicate that we would be better off not burning coal.
References:
Agarwalla, H., Senapati, R. N., & Das, T. B. (2021). Mercury emissions and partitioning from Indian coal-fired power plants. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 100, 28–33.
Bruckner T., I.A. Bashmakov, Y. Mulugetta, H. Chum, A. de la Vega Navarro, J. Edmonds, A. Faaij, B. Fungtammasan, A. Garg, E. Hertwich, D. Honnery, D. Infield, M. Kainuma, S. Khennas, S. Kim, H.B. Nimir, K. Riahi, N. Strachan, R. Wiser, and X. Zhang, 2014: Energy Systems. In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Cherry, D. S., & Guthrie, R. K. (1977). TOXIC METALS IN SURFACE WATERS FROM COAL ASH 1. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 13(6), 1227–1236.
Dunnivant, F. (2017). Environmental Success Stories: Solving Major Ecological Problems and Confronting Climate Change. Columbia University Press. Book.
Imin, B., Abliz, A., Shi, Q., Liu, S., & Hao, L. (2020). Quantitatively assessing the risks and possible sources of toxic metals in soil from an arid, coal-dependent industrial region in NW China. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 212, 106505.
Sandeep, P., Sahu, S. K., Kothai, P., & Pandit, G. G. (2016). Leaching behavior of selected trace and toxic metals in coal fly ash samples collected from two thermal power plants, India. Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 97(3), 425–431.
Tang, L., Qu, J., Mi, Z., Bo, X., Chang, X., Anadon, L. D., … & Zhao, X. (2019). Substantial emission reductions from Chinese power plants after the introduction of ultra-low emissions standards. Nature Energy, 4(11), 929–938.
