19 Curious Coal Pollution Facts: All On Coal Mining And Air Pollution

Coal is a non-renewable resource that generates immense energy, and along with energy, it also generates carbon dioxide.

The major part of the world's energy supply depends on coal, and coal production is over a billion tons each year. Nevertheless, various environmental issues, such as global warming, are linked with coal combustion, which also has a severe effect on human health.

One of the most widely utilized fossil fuels is coal, which was formed millions of years ago. It is predominantly carbon, but it contains supplementary elements such as nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur.

Therefore, when it burns, it produces carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulate matter. The emission of these gases into the environment damages not only our ecosystem but also human health.

Acid rain and global warming are some of the major issues that the world is facing today. Excessive emissions of carbon dioxide by coal combustion from various coal plants and factories can be considered a major source of climate change.

Besides climate change, mining operations are related to several environmental damages. There are various types of coal, such as bituminous, sub-bituminous, lignite, anthracite, graphite, and more.

Bituminous coal is mostly used in coal-fired power plants. To curb this problem of growing air pollution due to coal, various initiatives have been undertaken, such as the clean energy economy.

It is evident that coal is the most commonly used fossil fuel, but the climate crisis is a major drawback. Nevertheless, being non-renewable, the world could face problems in the near future from over utilizing it.

If you are interested in reading more about coal and how it causes pollution, then continue reading this article as we have stated more fascinating facts below.

If you liked reading this article, then check our other articles on factory pollution facts and diesel pollution facts and share these amazing facts with everyone.

Coal Pollution Meaning With Example

Before we dive into the topic of coal pollution, let us learn about pollution first. So, what is pollution and pollutant? Pollution is the release of pollutants into the environment. It can be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. These pollutants are harmful waste substances.

Coal is a fossil fuel and burning coal produces harmful gases that are linked with various health problems, particularly respiratory illness in humans. One prominent example of coal pollution is the Great Smog in London, which occurred during the industrial revolution and proved fatal for many. Find out more about coal pollution below.

In 1880, coal was utilized for the first time to manufacture electricity, and since then, it has been one of the primary sources of electrical energy. Coal is abundant, comparatively cheaper than other fossil fuels, and is widely used. Coal produces carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution.

The most common incident is the Great Smog of London, which occurred in 1952. This incident lasted for almost four days, and the concentration of pollutants was so high that it resulted in diminishing visibility.

It mainly occurred because of excessive sulfur dioxide emissions from coal plants and even households who were trying to keep themselves warm in winter. Thousands of people were affected, and many died, particularly those with respiratory illnesses.

Another prominent example of coal pollution would be coal deposits and coal discarding. Coal deposits have a high concentration of methane emissions, which is a greenhouse gas. Many workers lose their lives in several explosive accidents in mines.

Natural gas is a cleaner option than coal, which produces most of the emissions.

Sources Of Coal Pollution

It is amazing to think about how coal is formed. From dead plant matter, under the geological force of temperature and pressure that turned this plant matter into this low carbon peat into coal over millions of years.

It is through coal mining operations that coal is obtained. Coal is primarily used by industries, factories, and power plants. These are the primary sources of coal pollution.

It is also used as a source of heat in many rural and urban areas. Similar to how the burning of coal is a source of pollution, mining of coal is also a source of coal pollution.

Coal is a fundamental agent for producing electricity. Thus, in coal-fired power plants, various types of coal are burned, including bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite.

While underground mines of coal involve land and water pollution, they also destroy natural habitats. The remains of coal are frequently getting mixed in water bodies, thus, polluting the water. Read on for an in-depth discussion about coal pollution.

As stated earlier, mining of coal is also a source of coal pollution. Coal mining is of two types: surface mining and underground mining.

When coal deposits are near the surface of the earth, the process of surface mining is carried out. But when the coal deposits are situated deeper, where surface mining cannot be done, then underground mining is carried out.

Both of these processes are harmful in their own way.

Surface mining involves blowing off the surface, which eventually damages the existing landscape. Also, blowing off the surface yields dirt and pollutants that can get mixed with water sources and pollute the flora and fauna.

While underground mining produces excessive methane, which is responsible for global warming. After the coal has been obtained, it is the power plants that mostly utilize it to generate power.

But not all power plants do not use methods like gas desulfurization or carbon capture.

They emit carbon dioxide, mercury, and sulfur dioxide into the air. After tons of coal are burned by the power plants, they are left with tons of bottom ashes, fly ashes, and heavy metal residue.

These pollutants are further dumped into storage facilities where the heavy metals can leach into groundwater, which may be a source of drinking water for many people.

Back in the days when coal was the only convenient fossil fuel, the sources of pollution were even greater, as not only power plants and factories but the everyday lives of common people depended on coal.

Effect Of Coal Pollution On Environment

Coal-burning power plants are responsible for leading sulfur dioxide emissions, mercury emissions, carbon dioxide emissions, and methane emissions. These emissions have an enormous effect on the environment. The environment is the setting that sustains life, and if anything has an effect on the environment, it has an impact on living beings too.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable and procuring them can be tedious too. Coal is present in the sedimentary rock pit and it is derived by mining, like other fossil fuels.

Thus, these mining operations demolish the earth’s surface and its natural habitat. The emission of carbon dioxide is a crucial agent of global warming. Methane, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions are harmful to the environment.

Phenomena like acid rain occur due to sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that can damage plants and crops. Coal plants also dump toxic waste and heavy metals into bodies of water, thus polluting them excessively.

The air we breathe has so many pollutants that we may not know about. Global warming is another prominent example where greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane trap the sun’s radiation that is unable to escape the earth’s surface.

This trapped radiation gradually raises the earth's temperature, causing climate change. With every passing year, the temperature is increasing, and this is contributing to the outbreak of wildfires. We have witnessed so many wildfires, including the Amazon wildfire, Australia’s wildfires, and the United States’ wildfires.

Due to climate change, rainfall has increased, leading to landslides and flooding. The desert is expanding due to drought as water is getting insufficient.

Furthermore, the sea level is rising as glaciers are melting rapidly.

Several species are under threat, and some have become extinct. The chemical reaction that occurs when nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide get mixed with water and oxygen, as they tend to rise higher, leads to acid rain.

Therefore, acid rain is composed of acidic pollutants, and when these acidic pollutants come down in the form of rain, they damage agriculture, plants, water bodies, and animals. Besides rain, these acidic pollutants can be found in the form of fog, snow, and dust.

Coal pollution is not only airborne, as coal mines can degrade land and water too. Power plants are left with tons of ashes, fly ashes, bottom ashes, and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, chromium, selenium, and cadmium, which are stored in either wet storage or dry storage.

However, the lining of these storages may not be able to contain the ashes, and they may leach into the groundwater and pollute it.

Coal mines also have an impact on the local species as the entire area gets disturbed and many animals lose their habitat and food source. Coal mines also leave the ground infertile, as they jeopardize the entire soil profile, so no agricultural or plantation activity can take place in that region.

Prevention Of Coal Pollution

As coal pollution has become a global problem now, various initiatives by the government and non-governmental organizations have been taken to check the pollution. Coal pollution is not only affecting our climate but also the living beings by causing respiratory illnesses and health problems. However, people working in coal deposits are equally vulnerable to coal pollution.

Power plants and factories that rely on coal have developed a few techniques that can reduce the pollution caused by coal use. Gas desulfurization is one such piece of equipment that can enable the prevention of coal pollution. Similarly, carbon capture is another way.

Using these techniques, the emission of pollutants into the air can be checked. Various laws and regulations have also been laid down by the government.

Replacing coal-fired power plants with renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power, solar power, and wind power to produce electricity can also terminate the pollutants' emissions. With more advanced technologies, maybe, this problem can be ameliorated soon. Continue reading to learn more about these preventions and initiates.

From chronic bronchitis to various chronic respiratory diseases, which are so common nowadays, these can be evaluated as one of the impacts of air pollution. Particularly from fossil fuels like coal, where the fundamental emissions are mercury, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, which can damage the nervous, respiratory, and nervous systems in both adults and children.

To stop any further damage, proper checks and control over coal pollution have to be launched.

Renewable energy resources such as hydroelectricity, wind energy, and solar energy are to be taken into account. Hydroelectricity is the most common form, and as the name suggests, electricity is produced by converting potential energy to kinetic energy by using large rotating turbines.

It is a clean energy source that does not cause any pollution. However, if water sources are not available and only coal plants are being relied on for power, then methods like gas desulfurization and carbon capture can help.

Gas desulfurization is the process of removing sulfur oxides from fossil fuel gas emissions. It can be done by wet scrubbing the emissions with the help of limestone or alkaline sorbent.

The dry sorbent is also being injected into the exhaust outlets that eliminate sulfur dioxide. However, the SNOX process does not involve any absorbent and is based on a catalytic reaction. The wet sulfuric acid process was invented in 1980, and it is still widely used in most industries.

Last is the spray drying method, which is done by using hot gas. All of these gas desulfurization methods are capable of removing 90% of the sulfur dioxide emissions. As carbon dioxide is another issue, carbon capture is very effective regarding this.

Carbon capture has three main steps. The first is capturing the generated carbon dioxide by power plants and other factories.

The second is transporting the carbon dioxide, and the third is storing the carbon dioxide in underground storage. Moreover, to recover the damage done by mining operations, the land can be used for some other purpose, for example, golf courses or landfills. And the waste products can be utilized for the production of cement or gypsum.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 19 curious coal pollution facts, then why not take a look at 51 curious 20th-century facts, or 17 interesting 2012 Olympics facts that are worth knowing.