Abstract
52 coal ash samples from individual households were analyzed to determine the pH and the concentrations of four toxic elements: arsenic, cadmium, lead and thallium. The method used was atomic absorption spectrometry with graphite-furnace atomization. The ash samples originated from various coal grades and statistical analysis showed existing correlations between the concentrations of studied elements, pH and the coal grades. The maximum concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead and thallium were 50,900, 43,500, 128,900, and 6660 µg/kg, respectively. The results were compared with the published data for the ash of industrial origin.
Highlights
Hard coal has been widely used as a heat source in Poland as well as worldwide
A wide variety of coal is being used by individual users
The ash samples in this study consisted of waste material resulting from coal burning and they were collected from the furnace bottom
Summary
Hard coal has been widely used as a heat source in Poland as well as worldwide. Despite the fact that in recent years more attention has been given to renewable energy sources, demand for hard coal still remains remarkable, despite certain environment-related drawbacks [1]. The hard coal consumption in 2018 in Poland was 74.2 million tons in total, and 13.5% of this amount (which is 10.0 million tons) was consumed by individual households [2]. In the European Union, the hard coal consumption in 2018 reached 226 million tons (and 370 million tons of brown coal) [3]. There is a wide variety of coal present on the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University of Applied Sciences in Tarnow, Mickiewicza 8, 33‐100 Tarnów, Poland A wide variety of coal is being used by individual users
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