Miriam Ruiz Gmez

Mara Victoria Riesgo Garca

Coal is the largest source of energy for

the generation of electricity worldwide

The environmental impact of the coal industry includes the

consideration of issues such as land use, waste management,
and water, air pollution caused by the coal mining, processing and the
use of its products

 Waste created by a typical coal plant includes more than

125,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge from the

smokestack scrubber each year. Nationally, at least 42
percent of coal combustion waste ponds and landfills are
unlined.

The traditional treatment may cause:

potential toxicant that pollutes the groundwater
and soil,
occasionally piles up occupying land and
contaminating soil,
contaminating atmospheres in large area
contributing to its long-distance transportation
that may cause serious regional environmental
pollution,
the air-suspended particles, which is much
harmful to people's health.

 Coal mining waste

Coal burning waste

 Coal burning waste

Air pollution
Radiation exposure
Ash
Sludge

 Coal mining waste

Waste resulting from the methods of
mining

A certain portion of the coal must

always be sacrificed.

 Coal mining waste

Waste resulting from the breaking of tbe
coal in
mining and in the preparation of it for
market.
In all mining it becomes necessary to break
the coal in order to carry it to the surface.
This is usually done by some form of
mining machinery, wedging or blusting.

 Coal mining waste

Waste in Fine Coal

Depreciation in the value of coal

when it
becomes fine

 Coal mining waste

Mine sterile
Washery Sterile
Sterile heaps
Black Sterile
Red Sterile

 Coal mining waste

Hazardous gasses
Waste coal

Liquid coal waste

In recent years, recycling economy has

become the focus of the academic study, and
with more sophisticated techniques of waste
control and use applied into the waste
treatment, constructing green industry
chains based on recycling economy maybe a
solution to the problem.

 Coal gangue:
Mostly, by different processing methods, the reuse
of the coal gangue is used as input material for
traditional constructing material.
In addition, coal gangue has been accepted in many
places as alternative aggregates in embankment,
road, pavement, foundation and building
construction, pyrites extraction

 Fly-ash:

 Coal mine water

Industrial production
Environmental purification
Life living
Agricultural water for irrigation

 Sterile heaps
Weakness:
Spontaneous combustion
Space
Visual Impact

Open-pit mining
Underground mining
Water management

 OPEN-PIT MINING

-Eliminates existing vegetation.

-Destroys the genetic soil

profile.
-Displaces or destroys wildlife
and habitat.

 OPEN-PIT MINING

-Degrades air quality.

-Alters current land uses.
-To some extent changes
permanently
the
general
topography of the area mined.

 UNDERGROUND MINING

-If tunnels collapse it may cause the

collapse of the land surface .
-Methane can be released into the
air.
-The community of
microorganisms and nutrient
cycling processes can be
disrupted.

 WATER MANAGEMENT

-Open-pit mining requires large

amounts of water.
-These water resources are rarely
returned after
mining.
-Underground mining has a similar
but lesser effect.

 WATER MANAGEMENT
To mitigate these problems water is monitored at
coal mines. The principal technologies used:

-Diversion systems
-Containment ponds
-Ground water pumping systems
-Sub-surface drainage systems
-Sub-surface barriers

 One of the biggest problems that arise

related to the storage is the spontaneous

combustion of coal.

 The

environmental impact of the

tailings
is
associated
with
contamination in soil and water.
If a spontaneous combustion occurs
can have a really serious environmental
impact.
Coal
combustion produces large
amounts of contaminants.

 The uncontrolled emission of these pollutants

represents a danger to the environment and

human health.
It makes it a great cause for concern if the coal
waste piles are located near urban centers, as some
of the pollutants can be inhaled or ingested.

 It

is clear the importance of the proper

management of waste batteries.
This strategy is facilitated by a remote real-time
monitoring of some parameters.
These proposals are set out in ECOAL-MGT
Project, funded by the European Union included
in the program of the European Territorial
Cooperation of the Southwest Area (EuropeSUDOE).

 The main objective:

-Achieve a continuous study of coal waste
piles.
-Identify hazards and the development of
scenarios to generate actions to minimize the
negative impact.
They are developing a monitoring system based on
fiber optics for remote and multipoint
measurement of several key parameters.

 Recycling" of the coal ashes.

-The recovery of metals from mineral ores is a
complicated multi-step process.
-Metal recovery from coal ash may be more
efficient than ore processing.
-The physical form is more amenable to
process with limited initial conditioning.

 Recycling of the coal ashes.

Methods for extraction and separation from fly ash

are emerging and becoming more efficient.

Solid waste coal ash traditionally called,

can be exploited in the production of
building materials.

The use of ash in the manufacture of cement

and bricks, constitutes an alternative to
prevent environmental degradation.

The use of sterile in road embankments

and fills.

 Some mining companies like Anglo American are

arranging some interesting initiatives.

They are building houses with the coal waste

originated in the companys mine placed in South

Africa.

 They are also coming up with a project whichs

objective is inject and store carbon in a depleted

gas reservoir deep underground.