A New Role for Coal Cleaning Technologies: Air Toxics Control

摘要

Under Title Ⅲ of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required to assess the release of toxic substances by electric utilities. Title Ⅲ defines 189 substances as hazardous air pollutants (air toxics), including 14 elements such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel, and selenium commonly found in coal in trace concentrations. Because of concerns over bioaccumulation in the food chain, mercury was singled out for a separate study.rnIf air toxics emissions regulations are promulgated, many coal users are likely to respond by adding a limit on the concentration of selected trace elements, such as arsenic and mercury, to fuel purchase specifications. If this occurs, coal producers that cannot meet the new specification must either take action or lose market share. Cleaning the coal to reduce the concentration of the targeted trace elements is one option.