Coal pollution mitigation Since air is mostly nitrogen, combustion of coal often leads to production of nitrogen oxides. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are primary causes of acid rain. For many years--before greenhouse gasses were widely understood to be a threat-- it was thought that these by-products were the only drawback to using coal. These by-products are still a problem, but they have been greatly diminished in most advanced countries due to clean air regulations. It is possible to remove most of the sulfur dioxide (SO), nitrogen oxides (NO), and particulate matter (PM) emissions from the coal-burning process. For example, various techniques are
Sulfur dioxide and 2002. This improvement resulted in part from flue-gas desulfurization, a technology that enables SO to be chemically bound in power plants burning sulfur-containing coal or oil. In particular, calcium oxide (lime) reacts with sulfur dioxide to form calcium sulfite: Aerobic oxidation of the CaSO gives CaSO, anhydrite. Most gypsum sold in Europe comes from flue-gas desulfurization. Sulfur can be removed from coal during burning by using limestone as a bed material in fluidized bed combustion. Sulfur can also be removed from fuels before burning, preventing formation of SO when the fuel is burnt. The Claus process is used in