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 produces the polysulfanes, HS where x = 2, 3, and 4. Ultimately, reduction of sulfur produces sulfide salts: The interconversion of these species is exploited in the sodium-sulfur battery. The radical anion S gives the blue color of the mineral lapis lazuli. The principal sulfur oxides are obtained by burning sulfur: Multiple sulfur oxides are known; the sulfur-rich oxides include sulfur monoxide, disulfur monoxide, disulfur dioxides, and higher oxides containing peroxo groups. Sulfur forms sulfur oxoacids, some of which cannot be isolated and are only known through the salts. Sulfur dioxide and sulfites () are related to the unstable sulfurous