Samples of steam coal used in heat and power plants as well as densimetric fractions obtained on a laboratory scale by dense organic liquid separation have been examined. The contents of ash, mercury, chromium, cadmium, copper, nickel and lead have been determined in coal, in the light and medium fraction as well as in the refuse. The degree of removal of mineral matter and the examined heavy metals as well as the coal combustible parts yield have been determined. Examination of 5 coals revealed that it is possible to remove 41% of mercury and more than 35% of other heavy metals bound to mineral matter in coal.
The surface properties of particles emitted from six selected coal-fired power and heating plants in Poland have been studied in this work for the first time. Samples were collected beyond the control systems. Surface composition of the size-distributed particles was obtained by photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
The reflection of the smallest, submicron particles was also measured to calculate their specific/mass absorption. The surface layer of the emitted particles was clearly dominated by oxygen, followed by silicon and carbon. The sum of the relative concentration of these elements was between 85.1% and 91.1% for coarse particles and 71.8–93.4% for fine/submicron particles. Aluminum was typically the fourth or fifth, or at least the sixth most common element. The mass absorption of the submicron particles emitted from the studied plants ranged from 0.02 m2g-1 to 0.03 m2g-1. Only specific absorption obtained for the “Nowy Wirek” heating plant was significantly higher than in other studied plants probably because the obsolete fire grate is used in this heating plant.
The obtained results suggest that the power/heating-plant-emitted fine particles contain less carbonaceous material/elemental carbon on their surfaces than those that are typical in urban air.
The aim of this research was to assess the content and composition of the pollutants emitted by domestic central heating boilers equipped with an automatic underfeed fuel delivery system for the combustion chamber. The comparative research was conducted. It concerned fuel properties, flue gas parameters, contents of dust (fl y ash) and gaseous substances polluting the air in the flue gases emitted from a domestic CH boiler burning bituminous coal, pellets from coniferous wood, cereal straw, miscanthus, and sunflower husks, coniferous tree bark, and oats and barley grain. The emission factors for dust and gaseous air pollutants were established as they are helpful to assess the contribution of such boilers in the atmospheric air pollution. When assessing the researched boiler, it was found out that despite the development in design and construction, flue gases contained fly ash with a significant EC content, which affected the air quality.