Blackwater is a form of
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
produced in
coal preparation.
In its purification, coal is crushed in a
coal preparation plant
300px, A coal "washer" in Eastern Kentucky
A modern coal breaker in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania combines washing, crushing, grading, sorting, stockpiling, and shipping in one facility built into a stockpile of anthracite coal below a mountain top ...
and then separated and transported as a
coal slurry
Coal slurry is a mixture of solids (mined coal or coal waste) and liquids (water or organic) produced by a coal preparation plant.
Preparation
To transform the coal ash into a slurry, coal is separated from non-combustible components and can be ...
, From the slurry, incombustible materials are removed and the coal can be sized. After the recovery of the coal particles from this slurry, the remaining water is black, contains very fine particles of coal. This blackwater cannot be
processed in a water treatment plant.
Disasters
Impoundments for storage of blackwater and other coal-related wastes have a troubled history with often severe environmental consequences.
In February 1972, three dams holding a mixture of coal slurry in
Logan County, West Virginia
Logan County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,567. Its county seat is Logan. Logan County comprises the Logan, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Charl ...
failed in succession: of
toxic
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...
water were released in the
Buffalo Creek Flood. As discussed in the book
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 people were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. The flood caused 50 million dollars in damages. Despite evidence of negligence, the
Pittston Coal Company
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal ...
, which owned the compromised dam, called the event an "
Act of God
In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God is a natural hazard outside human control, such as an earthquake or tsunami, for which no person can be held responsible. An act of God may amount to an exception to liability in con ...
."
In 2002, a high, long valley fill in
Lyburn, West Virginia
Lyburn is an unincorporated mining community in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. Lyburn is also the home of the Bearwallow trailhead for the Hatfield-Mccoy ATV trail.
Mining accident
In 2002, a slurry pond break in the head of a hollo ...
failed and slid into a sediment pond at the toe of the fill, generating a large wave of water and sediment that destroyed several cars and houses.
Other slurry disasters
*
Buffalo Creek Flood
*
Aberfan Disaster
The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led ...
*
Martin County sludge spill
*
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
The Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill was an environmental and industrial disaster that occurred on Monday December 22, 2008, when a dike ruptured at a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roan ...
*
Little Blue Run Lake
Little Blue Run Lake or Little Blue Run is the largest coal ash impound in the United States. FirstEnergy owns the site, located in Western Pennsylvania and parts of the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, and has disposed of billions of gallons ...
Future technologies
The ultimate solution to the blackwater problem is to process coal without the use of water. Such dry-separation technologies are under development.
[D. Woodruff and L. Macnamara, "Treatment of coal tailings" in "The Coal Handbook: Towards Cleaner Production" D Osborne, Ed. Woodhead Publishing, 2013. Print . Web ]
References
Notes
Public Health & Coal Slurry > Coal Slurry ::: Journey Up Coal River
*Department for Natural Resources. Report Of The Black Water Task Force. Rep. Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, 2005. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
*Hales, Simon, J. Gohlke, A. Pruess-Ustun, D. Campbell-Lendrum, and A. Woodward. "Mitigation of Climate Change and the Potential Reduction in Global Health Impact of Particulate Air Pollution from Coal Fired Power Station." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 6.58 (2009): 582014. Print.
*King, A. J., Tonkin, Z., and Lieshcke, J. (2012). Short-term effects of a prolonged blackwater event on aquatic fauna in the Murray River, Australia: considerations for future events. Marine and Freshwater Research 63, 576–586.
*Orem, Williams. Research Geochemist, USGS. Coal Slurry: Geochemistry and Impact on Human Health and Environmental Quality.
*Ryan, Barry, Ross Leeder, John T. Price, and John F. Gransden. "The Effect Of Coal Preparation On The Quality Of Clean Coal And Coke.
Welcome to the US Petabox
British Columbia Geological Survey, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
*"Uses of Coal." World Coal Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.
Environmental impact of the coal industry
Pollution
Water pollution
{{Wastewater