Characteristic Fly-ash Particles from Oil-shale Combustion Found in Lake Sediments

Fly-ash particles accumulate in sediments and can be used to assess spatial distribution and temporal trends of atmospheric deposition of pollutants derived from high temperature combustion of fossil fuels. Previous work has concerned fly-ash derived from oil and coal. Oil-shale is the main fossil fuel used in Estonia and a major source of atmospheric pollution in the Baltic states. To assess if oil-shale power plants produce specific fly-ash particles, we used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) to compare fly-ash particles from oil-shale combustion with particles from oil and coal combustion. Two types were analysed, large black (10–30 μm) and small glassy (<5 μm) spheroidal particles. Although particle morphology to some extent is indicative of the fuel burnt, morphological characters are not sufficient to differentiate between particles of different origin. However, our results indicate that with EDX analysis the fly-ash from oil-shale can be distinguished from oil and coal derived particles in environmental samples. Concentrations of large black and small glassy spheroidal fly-ash particles in a sediment core from an Estonian lake showed similar trends to oil-shale combustion statistics from Estonian power plants.