Contents of Ecotoxic Elements in Polish Coking Bituminous Coals and in Products of Coking

Abstract

Ecotoxic elements include the ones which have a negative impact on human health and the environment, among others, mercury, arsenic and lead. Hard coal is a fuel which contains significant amounts of ecotoxic elements and the processes of coal combustion, coking and gasification are one of the main sources of their anthropogenic emission. In the coking process, individual ecotoxic elements in various proportions remain in coke and are released to the raw coke oven gas. During the cleaning and cooling of coke gas, ecotoxic elements are distributed between purified coke gas and other coking byproducts. In the paper, the measurement results of the contents of selected ecotoxic elements in the Polish coking bituminous coals are presented, i.e. mercury, arsenic and lead. The examination results of their content in the products of the coking process i.e. coke, coal tar, BTX, sulfur, and purified coke oven gas are also shown. Coke is characterized by a much lower content of mercury and lead than coal, and by a similar content of arsenic. Among the coking products, sulfur and tar are characterized by the highest content of mercury. Coal tar also contains a high amount of lead.