Blue coal versus smog

With the next heating season coming, the concerns return about the health of the residents of the cities and regions particularly vulnerable to smog, mainly in the south of Poland.

"You do not have to move away from coal to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the air. Blue coal can be an alternative to conventional fossil fuel" - said the project leader Dr. Aleksander Sobolewski, Director of the Institute.

Blue carbon is a refined, low-emission coal fuel. It owes its name to a blue colour of the flame during combustion. While ordinary coal burns yellow-orange, the innovative fuel combusts like gas, without sparks.

Refining coal in this case consists in thermal treatment and partial degassing. Thus processed, it can still be burned in a traditional stove, such as masonry heater.

"Blue coal has a higher calorific value than untreated coal. During the heating season, an apartment or single family home consumes less blue coal than traditional coal. And as a bonus we get >clean air<" - said Dr. Sobolewski.

He explained that the poorer part of the Polish society uses coal heating. The main source of air pollution are outdated and poorly operated furnaces and boilers fired with low quality carbon fuels. Coal is several times cheaper than gas. To save money, in outdated ovens and boilers people use high-sulphur, poor quality coal, coal slurry, flotation concentrate and even, unfortunately, household waste. During coal burning, old stoves and boilers emit carcinogenic volatile organic compounds - polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

"In the next decade, in practice, it is unrealistic to replace all the old coal stoves and kitchen stoves. It is therefore necessary to change the fuel. Low-emission fuel must be adapted to the existing infrastructure and the society awareness" - said Dr. Sobolewski.

The GEKON project includes tests of the existing Polish technology and preparing for its implementation. The project at the interface between science and industry has resulted in producing the pilot quantity of blue coal. Technology research and tests carried out at the turn of 2015 and 2016 indicate that the use of the innovative fuel will result in a tenfold reduction of emissions of dust and organic pollutants and threefold reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions compared to coal.

As part of the project, 2 thousand tons of innovative fuel were used in five locations in Poland, including the so-called "springs". Participants of the pilot studies completed a survey, in which they confirmed the opinion of researchers that the new fuel can get a full social acceptance. Field studies have confirmed a significant improvement in air quality in places where the innovative solution was tested.

Dr. Sobolewski noted that the implementation of such fuel in individual heating requires a proper system of financial support from the state. To effectively reduce the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere, a long-term program should be put in place. It should include an immediate elimination of low quality coal fuel from the municipal market, especially coal slurry and flotation concentrate.

In his view, the state should promote replacement programs for modern, automatic boilers and ban in Poland the marketing of boilers that do not meet the European emission standards. Education in the conscious use of heating equipment and fuel quality should be provided by schools, municipalities and the authorities responsible for the environment.

What will be the future of the blue coal? "We have every reason to introduce real and rapid method of reduction of emissions in Poland. A system based on the principle that "the citizen pays for the fuel, and the state for environmental effect" seems to be possible to implement. Everything is in the hands of politicians "- concluded the director of the Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal in Zabrze.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Karolina Duszczyk

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