What Are Coal Emissions?

The elements that make up coal organic matter are mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. In addition, there are also very small amounts of elements such as phosphorus, fluorine, chlorine, and arsenic.

Coal pollution

Make up coal

Coal Introduction

Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are the main body of coal organic matter, accounting for more than 95%; the deeper the degree of coalification, the higher the carbon content, and the lower the hydrogen and oxygen content. Carbon and hydrogen are elements that generate heat during the combustion of coal, and oxygen is a combustion-supporting element. When coal is burned, nitrogen does not generate heat. At high temperatures, nitrogen is converted into nitrogen oxides and ammonia, which are precipitated in a free state. Sulfur, phosphorus, fluorine, chlorine and arsenic are harmful components in coal, among which sulfur is the most important. When coal is burned, most of the sulfur is oxidized to sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is emitted with flue gas, pollutes the atmosphere, endangers animal and plant growth and human health, and corrodes metal equipment. Affects the quality of coke and steel. Therefore, the "sulfur content" is one of the important indicators for evaluating coal quality.

The content of inorganic matter in coal is very small, mainly including water and minerals. Their presence reduces the quality and value of the coal. Minerals are the main impurities of coal, such as sulfides, sulfates, carbonates, etc., most of which are harmful components.

Coal pollution pollution performance

85% of China's coal is used by direct combustion, mainly including thermal power generation, industrial boilers (kilns), civilian heating and home stoves. High-consumption and inefficient combustion of coal emits a large amount of SO2, CO2, and soot into the air, causing China's air pollution mainly dominated by soot.

(1) Coal mining leads to the destruction of land resources and the deterioration of the ecological environment. Due to stripping and dewatering in open-pit mining, surface subsidence and cracks in well mining will destroy land resources and plant resources, affect land cultivation and vegetation growth, change landforms, and cause changes in landscape ecology. Subsidence caused by mining caused flooding or salinization of large areas of land in the mining areas in the eastern plains of China, which aggravated soil erosion and desertification in the western mining areas. Coal mining subsidence can also cause mountain lands and hills to fall or mudslides, and endanger the safety of ground buildings, water bodies and transportation lines. According to the survey, the forest area directly damaged by mining in China has reached 1.06 million hectares, the grassland area has been damaged by 263,000 ha, the country's cumulative land occupation has been 5.86 million ha, and the land destruction has been 1.57 million ha, and it is still at a rate of 40,000 ha Increasing, and the land reclamation rate in the mining area is only 10%. It is also estimated that, for every 10,000 tons of coal mined in China, the average subsidence land is 0.2ha; in the village's dense plain mining area, about 2000 people need to be migrated for every 10 million tons of coal mined.

(2) Coal mining destroys groundwater resources and exacerbates water shortages in water-scarce areas. China is a country with low per capita water resources in the world, and its water resources are extremely unevenly distributed. Judging from the distribution of coal-containing regions, coal-rich regions are often poor regions. According to a survey, of the 96 state-owned key mining areas nationwide, 71% of the mines lack water, and 40% of the mines are severely lacking water. With the continuous increase and increase of coal mining intensity and extension speed, the groundwater level in the mining area has fallen over a large area, which makes the water supply in water-stressed mining areas more tight, which affects the production and life of local residents. On the other hand, a large amount of groundwater resources have leaked into the mine due to the destruction of coal-bearing strata and have been discharged. These mine waters have been purified and used for less than 20%, causing new pollution to the surrounding environment of the mining area. According to statistics, China's coal mines each year produce about 25% of the country's total waste water. In 2000, the discharge of waste water from coal mines across the country reached 2.75 billion tons, of which 2.3 billion tons of mine water, 350 million tons of industrial wastewater, 50 million tons of coal washing wastewater, and 4.5 million tons of other wastewater.

(3) Coal mining causes exhaust emissions and endangers the atmospheric environment. The exhaust gas formed due to coal mining mainly refers to the gas spontaneously ignited by the gas in the mine and the rocky mountain on the ground. Methane, the main component of mine gas, is an important greenhouse gas, and its greenhouse effect is 21 times that of CO2. According to statistics, China emits 7 to 9 billion m3 of methane from mining every year, which accounts for about 30% of the world's total methane emissions. Except for about 5% of centralized recovery and utilization, the rest are all discharged into the atmosphere. The spontaneous combustion of the rocky mountain in the mining area releases a large amount of toxic and harmful gases containing SO2, CO2, CO, etc., which seriously pollutes the atmospheric environment and directly damages the health of surrounding residents. Coal gangue has a large output, and its emissions account for about 15% to 20% of the raw coal output of coal mines. According to incomplete statistics, China's state-owned coal mines now have more than 1,500 gangue mountains, with a cumulative volume of 3 billion tons over the years, covering an area of 5000ha. According to a survey of the mine environment in 1994, 464 out of 1,072 ocher mountains in the semi-arid area north of the Huaihe River had spontaneous combustion, and the spontaneous combustion rate reached 43.3%.

(4) In order to meet the society's demand for clean coal, China's raw coal washing rate has increased year after year. The amount of raw coal washed in 1999 was 317 million tons, with a washing rate of 30%, of which the state-owned key coal mines reached 48%. At the same time as raw coal is washed, a large amount of slime water is also polluted to contaminate soil vegetation and river water systems. According to the investigation, due to coal washing, 45 million tons of coal washing, 40 million tons of coal washing wastewater and 2 million m3 of coal slime are discharged every year.

(5) In China, due to the huge spatial difference between coal production and consumption, the long-distance coal transportation pattern of "North-South Coal Transport, South-West Coal Transport". Coal dust generated during transportation not only loses a large amount of coal, but also pollutes the ecological environment around the line. According to statistics, the amount of coal transported by railways nationwide in 1999 was 64.17 million tons, with an average distance of 550 km; the amount of coal transported by road or transit railways reached 600 million tons, with an average distance of 80 km. If calculated by the 0.5% loss of flying dust, the coal dust discharged into the atmosphere due to transportation amounts to more than 6 million tons, and the direct economic loss exceeds RMB 600 million.

(6) China's long-term coal-based energy consumption structure has not only formed soot-type air pollution with acid rain, sulfur dioxide, and soot as the main hazards, but also China's second largest cause of pollutant emissions in the world. Statistics show that in 2000, the total SO2 emissions in the country's exhaust gas were 19.95 million tons, of which 16.12 million tons were industrial sources and 38.38 million tons were domestic sources; 11.65 million tons of total soot emissions, including industrial soot emissions The amount is 9.53 million tons, and the amount of domestic soot emissions is 2.12 million tons. The area of acid rain area accounts for about 30% of the land area.

Damage caused by coal pollution

A few days ago, the international environmental protection organization Greenpeace and the Dutch independent authoritative energy agency CEDelft jointly released the global report "True Cost of Coal", pointing out that the global use of coal in 2007 caused at least 360 billion euros (about 3.2 trillion yuan) in losses. .

Greenpeace calls on all countries in the world to pay attention to the environmental consequences caused by coal combustion, and immediately reduce and gradually abandon the use of coal.

"Every year s losses of 360 billion euros are actually a relatively conservative calculation. If we do nt take effective measures to actively stop climate change, the resulting losses will rise sharply," said Agneska Marcuska, an expert at the CEDelft Institute. "For example, billions of people will face water shortages, hundreds of millions of people will be threatened with food security, and extreme weather will become more frequent.

In addition, coal also directly pollutes water and air, and causes black lung disease.

Coal pollution protection and treatment

(1) Supporting policies and regulations, increasing investment in environmental protection. The state has promulgated and revised 13 laws and regulations directly related to the environmental protection of coal mining areas, putting the environmental protection and governance of mining areas on the legal track, and accelerating the development of environmental protection in mines. The improvement of the mining area's environment is inseparable from investment. According to incomplete statistics, during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, the coal industry invested 2.86 billion yuan in environmental governance, with an average of 570 million yuan per year.

(2) Land reclamation has achieved certain results. Data show that the country has cumulatively reclaimed and used about 15 million mu of various types of waste land, accounting for 8% of the total amount of waste land; of which more than 6 million mu of land was reclaimed and used, accounting for about 10% of the total amount of waste land . 70% of the reclaimed land is used as cultivated land or other agricultural land, and 30% is used for non-agricultural construction land or other uses. From the perspective of the coal industry, during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, the nation's reclamation of coal mining subsided land was 150ha, the reclamation rate was 15%, and the completion of open-pit mining damaged land reclamation amounted to 21ha. ?

(3) The effect of the three waste treatment is remarkable. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, the utilization rate of coal gangue reached 40%, which was 9 percentage points higher than that during the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period. As of 1999, 310 fire-extinguishing gangue hills were treated, and the fire-extinguishing rate reached 80%. In 1998, Shandong Province comprehensively used more than 7 million tons of coal gangue, accounting for 71% of total emissions, and realized profits and taxes of nearly 70 million yuan. The new coal mine design rejects the stacking of vermiculite, which will effectively guarantee the complete eradication of vermiculite in the future. Statistics show that in 1999, the national extractive industry removed a total of 156,104 tons of industrial SO2, of which 41,505 tons were removed during fuel combustion; and 1,647,893 tons of industrial soot were removed.

(4) The greening of the mining area has shifted from simply planting trees and grass to green ecological engineering construction. Numerous mining areas continue to increase investment, greening and beautifying production and living areas. According to the geographical environment in which the mining area is located, new greening technologies are actively adopted to build a mine protection forest, green coal gangue mountains, control sand and soil, restore vegetation, and maintain water and soil.

(5) Clean coal technology has developed rapidly. In 1995, there were 557 coal washing plants nationwide, with an annual loading of 280 million tons of raw coal, and the rate of raw coal washing was 22%. By 2000, the number of coal washing plants had increased to 755, the amount of raw coal washing reached 450 million tons, and the rate of raw coal washing exceeded 30%. Before 1995, power coal blending in the country was almost blank. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, a number of power coal blending plants of different sizes and types were successively constructed and put into operation in the country, with an annual production capacity of nearly 60 million tons. China's civil briquette technology has matured. By the year 2000, the country's civilian briquette output reached 80 million tons, and the urban residents' domestic briquette penetration rate was 80%. In order to speed up the development of coalbed methane, during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, the State Council approved the establishment of a company specializing in coalbed methane development. According to incomplete statistics, in 2000, a total of nearly 400 million m3 of coalbed methane was developed and used nationwide. It is estimated that by 2005, the national coalbed methane utilization amounted to more than 3 billion m3.

Weak points in environmental protection and governance of coal mining areas

(1) Weak leadership environmental awareness and low public participation. China's historical environmental protection experience proves that all environmental pollution and ecological damage first originate from the ideological understanding and decision-making behavior of leaders at all levels. At present, many leaders are far from establishing a real sense of environmental protection, and only stay on the slogan of sustainable development. They still follow the old road of "polluting first, then treating" or the crooked way of increasing pollution for local benefits. Public participation occupies a very important position in the environmental impact assessment of developed countries. Hear public opinions widely through hearings and other forms to meet the public's requirements for environmental protection. The public participation system has not yet been established in the environmental impact assessment of construction projects in China, and the level of environmental protection work that is openly under public supervision is still very low.

(2) Slow adjustment of economic structure and weak environmental protection supervision. Although the country continues to adjust its economic structure, due to multiple factors such as ideological inertia, institutional rigidity, insufficient financial resources, lack of policies, and regional barriers, China's irrational energy production and consumption structure still exists, and this structure is irrational The direct consequences are over-exploitation and waste of resources, and difficult to improve the environment and safety of the mining area. On the other hand, China's environmental protection management system still has many shortcomings, especially the failure of restrictive supervision mechanisms, which leads to ineffective supervision of environmental protection, non-compliance with laws, strict enforcement of laws, and violations of laws still exist.

(3) The history of environmental protection owes a lot of debts, poor funding channels and insufficient investment. China's long-term planned economic system has left huge ecological burdens on mining areas, especially many old mining areas, and has not established corresponding governance fund accounts. Since the late 1970s, China's environmental pollution has been deteriorating, and governance funds have only one channel of national finance. In 1984, in the "Decision on Environmental Protection" (Guo Fa [1984] No. 64), the State Council identified 8 channels for environmental protection funds, of which 7 were used for investment in pollution control. Although these seven channels have played an important role in fund raising, pollution control and environmental quality improvement, on the whole, the total amount of investment in pollution treatment is far from the level at which the deterioration of the environment is basically controlled. Some of these 7 channels are no longer available. Even if they are connected, there are still problems such as poor channels, and their external performance is a serious lack of capital investment. According to statistics, China s annual direct investment in coal environmental protection is about 500 to 600 million yuan, which only accounts for 0.3% of the coal industry output value, which is far lower than the national average of 1%.

(4) There are many blind spots in reclamation of subsidence land in mining areas. Although the State Council has formally promulgated and implemented the Land Reclamation Regulations as early as 1988, the Land Reclamation Law and the Coal Law, which have been subsequently revised and formulated, have provisions on land reclamation in 5 laws. Local governments at all levels have almost formulated the implementation methods of land reclamation regulations, but the land reclamation rate in mining areas is only 10%, which is more than 50% lower than in developed countries. Be blind. For example, the historical debts of land subsidence in the old mining area have not been clearly accountable and funds channels for reimbursement; the principle of "who destroys, who rehabilitates" in the land reclamation regulations is useless. Restrict the implementation of land reclamation regulations by enterprises; it is difficult for enterprises and local governments to form effective cooperation mechanisms in land reclamation.

(5) The state lacks more targeted and more stringent mine environmental protection laws and regulations. Among the current environmental protection policies and regulations, the lack of laws, regulations and technical standards for the characteristics of mine environmental protection is not conducive to the deep development of mine environmental protection and governance. Some environmental problems cannot be treated in a timely manner due to lack of rules, thus endangering the environment for a long time. For example, the spontaneous combustion of coal gangue mountains is characterized as unorganized emissions, and the state still has regulations for indefinite treatment and exceeding the standard fine.

Historical case of coal pollution

In the 1950s, pollution in Britain caused thousands of deaths. Peter Torsham pointed out that Britain's difficult and long road to environmental protection is an important lesson for China.

Large-scale industrial production, severe coal dependence and heavy smoke cities are not only the characteristics of our country, but also in Britain for a long time in the 19th and 20th centuries. Due to similar experiences, Britain's long struggle with coal pollution has special significance for China.

For many years, the British have divergent views on the consequences of the unlimited consumption of coal in their country, and many people in the country are similar. Many people use soot as a symbol of economic prosperity and high employment, while others believe that the smoke will have a serious economic cost.

The latter states that smoke represents waste, not wealth. The main advocate of this view is Dr. Nell Arnold, Queen Victoria's personal doctor. He declared in 1855 that "due to the thick air, the residents of London alone spend more than 2.5 million pounds on laundry each year than the same number of domestic households."

Arnot's estimate was limited to laundry costs, while others sought to make more comprehensive statistics of the economic costs of air pollution. Scientist Rolu Russell (philosopher Russell's uncle) lists 24 types of damage caused by soot, including aging of paint layers, erosion of metals and stone products, damage to vegetation, human diseases, and more. Decades later, a British government commission calculated air pollution losses in the 1950s at 250 million pounds per year, and their classification criteria are much the same as Russell's. Although experts at the time emphasized that the devastating effects of coal combustion were not purely local issues, no one could understand it from a global perspective.

Many commentators point out that one of the biggest costs of soot is the waste of coal. Optimists hope the air will be cleaner as users realize that soot control can save money. Although improving coal use efficiency can indeed save fuel costs and reduce smoke emissions, the necessary technology is expensive to purchase and implement. Even though producers realize that buying energy-efficient equipment can save money in the long run, many people lack the funds or long-term determination necessary to make this investment.

The government intervened when polluters apparently weren't taking proactive steps to reduce smog. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the British Parliament passed a series of laws requiring local governments to take action to stop industries that emit large amounts of smoke.

The effectiveness of this legislation is limited by many factors, including too few fines and legal loopholes. In addition, many local officials responsible for implementing anti-smoke laws are themselves the owners of polluting companies. These factors still hinder the environment around the world Effective governance. Even when the governors do not have personal financial interests in law enforcement, they are often worried that too strict law enforcement will lead to the relocation of the industry, which will lead to unemployment and loss of taxes.

So, if it wasn't for the disaster, things could be as usual. In November 1952, a complicated and unusual weather struck London. Combustion products from millions of fireplaces could not rise into the atmosphere or be scattered into the wind. Visibility was zero, the hospital was crowded with breathing difficulties, and thousands of people died.

After the smog disaster, the British government began to consider reducing pollution, but it faced pressure from coal, manufacturing and electricity interest groups. As happened in China and the United States, proponents of these industries claim that pollution control measures and alternative energy costs are too high to be implemented.

After many negotiations, Congress finally passed the Clean Air Act in 1956. In addition to extending government research to pollution prevention, the bill also sets new limits on industrial smog. It has also begun to control fumes from home heating and cooking, which is a major cause of British air pollution. To help finance the purchase of low-pollution equipment, national and local government agencies have provided financial assistance.

Although this legislation has been effective in reducing visible pollutants such as smog, it has no effect on unseen pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and mercury, let alone greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Instead of prohibiting the discharge of these substances into the environment, governors encourage factories to discharge them into the atmosphere through extremely high chimneys. They believe that these substances will be diluted to those levels and become "harmless."

Unfortunately, simply raising the chimney will only change the pollution. Sulfur dioxide will turn into acid rain, falling hundreds of kilometers away from the downwind of the plant and power plant where it originated; fine particles can even float farther, and carbon dioxide is quickly dispersed into the world's atmosphere. At the end of the 21st century, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration may change Twice as much as the beginning of British industrialization.

China's annual coal consumption exceeds 2 billion tons, and coal will remain China's main energy source for decades to come. There are technologies that can reduce particulate pollution and sulfur dioxide entering the atmosphere when coal is burned. The biggest beneficiaries of this change will be the Chinese people, who are paying a heavy price for the health damage, poverty and environmental damage caused by coal. However, the purification of Chinese air will also benefit those who are far away from China. For example, researchers have found that smoke particles from China have flown to the United States.

In addition to pollution control measures, improving energy efficiency is equally important. The most advanced power plants burn less coal and emit less particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide than traditional power plants. Saving energy and improving energy efficiency can bring similar benefits, and the cost is lower than building new power generation facilities. If China can invest in these technologies, it will benefit immensely in itself and the rest of the world.

The best way to deal with pollution is not to dilute it, but to prevent it from the root cause, which is already clear. All inhabitants of the earth are neighbors, breathing the only air together. When parents work closely at the local and national levels to reduce pollution, they must work together at the global level to maintain healthy air.