Beryllium pollution from slag and ashes from thermal power stations

Beryllium enters the environment principally from coal combustion. Be contents in the ashes from a Czechoslovak power plant were determined. The ashes used in the experiment were as follows: coarse (> 2.0 mm) and fine (2.0 to 0.2 mm) fraction from dump, and fine (< 0.2 mm) fraction from electrostatic precipitators. It was discovered that the acidic and the alkali aqueous extracts of these ashes contain various concentrations of Be (1 to 17% of total concentration). Wastewater has shown 3.15 and 3.4 μg Be L^?1. Thus, secondary long-term Be pollution emerges from the slag and ash dumps.