Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil

Solid fossil fuel power plants are the main source of energy in Poland. In 2018, the most important energy carrier was hard coal with a share of 57.9%, followed by lignite with a share of 18.1%. In addition to CO<sub>2</sub>, NO<i><sub>x</sub></i> and SO<i>&...

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Main Author: Małgorzata Wawer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
Series:Minerals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/12/1066
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spelling doaj-e71919537b074c58a0260c623b51c1992020-11-29T00:04:01ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2020-11-01101066106610.3390/min10121066Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and SoilMałgorzata Wawer0Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, PolandSolid fossil fuel power plants are the main source of energy in Poland. In 2018, the most important energy carrier was hard coal with a share of 57.9%, followed by lignite with a share of 18.1%. In addition to CO<sub>2</sub>, NO<i><sub>x</sub></i> and SO<i><sub>x</sub></i>, the combustion of fossil fuels produces dusts containing, among others, potentially toxic elements (PTEs), e.g., Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd. Although the currently operating power plants have efficient filter systems, the total dust emission in Poland in 2017 amounted to 341,000 t, of which approximately 36,000 t was from the power plants. PTEs present in the power plant dust are often accompanied by technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs)—mainly iron oxides and hydroxides formed in high-temperature technological processes as a result of the transformations of iron minerals contained in raw materials and additives. The presence of magnetic iron minerals (e.g., magnetite, hematite, maghemite, metallic iron) in the tested ashes from hard coal and lignite power plants was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analysis. The sequential extraction analysis showed that most of the analyzed PTEs found in dust after hard coal combustion were mainly related to amorphous and crystalline FeO<i><sub>x</sub></i> or in the residual fraction and in dust after lignite combustion, mainly in the most mobile fractions.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/12/1066fly ashessoil pollutionpotentially toxic elementstechnogenic magnetic particlessequential extraction
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Małgorzata Wawer
spellingShingle Małgorzata Wawer
Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
Minerals
fly ashes
soil pollution
potentially toxic elements
technogenic magnetic particles
sequential extraction
author_facet Małgorzata Wawer
author_sort Małgorzata Wawer
title Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
title_short Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
title_full Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
title_fullStr Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
title_full_unstemmed Identification of Technogenic Magnetic Particles and Forms of Occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in Fly Ashes and Soil
title_sort identification of technogenic magnetic particles and forms of occurrence of potentially toxic elements present in fly ashes and soil
publisher MDPI AG
series Minerals
issn 2075-163X
publishDate 2020-11-01
description Solid fossil fuel power plants are the main source of energy in Poland. In 2018, the most important energy carrier was hard coal with a share of 57.9%, followed by lignite with a share of 18.1%. In addition to CO<sub>2</sub>, NO<i><sub>x</sub></i> and SO<i><sub>x</sub></i>, the combustion of fossil fuels produces dusts containing, among others, potentially toxic elements (PTEs), e.g., Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd. Although the currently operating power plants have efficient filter systems, the total dust emission in Poland in 2017 amounted to 341,000 t, of which approximately 36,000 t was from the power plants. PTEs present in the power plant dust are often accompanied by technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs)—mainly iron oxides and hydroxides formed in high-temperature technological processes as a result of the transformations of iron minerals contained in raw materials and additives. The presence of magnetic iron minerals (e.g., magnetite, hematite, maghemite, metallic iron) in the tested ashes from hard coal and lignite power plants was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analysis. The sequential extraction analysis showed that most of the analyzed PTEs found in dust after hard coal combustion were mainly related to amorphous and crystalline FeO<i><sub>x</sub></i> or in the residual fraction and in dust after lignite combustion, mainly in the most mobile fractions.
topic fly ashes
soil pollution
potentially toxic elements
technogenic magnetic particles
sequential extraction
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/12/1066
work_keys_str_mv AT małgorzatawawer identificationoftechnogenicmagneticparticlesandformsofoccurrenceofpotentiallytoxicelementspresentinflyashesandsoil
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