Coal combustion: Source of toxic elements in urban air?

Abstract

Although coal combustion may be a major source of many lithophile elements as well as As and Se on suspended particles in the atmospheres of many U.S. cities, it cannot account for the amounts of V, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Sb typically observed. In a coal‐fired power plant typical of those in wide use today, less than 25% of the mass of most elements is attached to particles small enough to be deposited efficiently in human lungs; exceptions are Br, I, As, Sb, Pb and Hg.