School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Park Place, CF10 3YE Cardiff, UK.
Environ Pollut. 2011 Dec;159(12):3324-33. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2011.08.041. Epub 2011 Sep 9.
Coal fly ash (CFA) is a significant environmental pollutant that presents a respiratory hazard when airborne. Although previous studies have identified the mineral components of CFA, there is a paucity of information on the structural habits of these minerals. Samples from UK, Polish and Chinese power stations were studied to further our understanding of the factors that affect CFA geochemistry and mineralogy. ICP-MS, FE-SEM/EDX, XRD, and laser diffraction were used to study physicochemical characteristics. Analysis revealed important differences in the elemental compositions and particle size distributions of samples between sites. Microscopy of HF acid-etched CFA revealed the mullite present possesses a fibrous habit; fibres ranged in length between 1 and 10 μm. Respirable particles (<10 μm) were frequently observed to contain fibrous mullite. We propose that the biopersistence of these refractory fibres in the lung environment could be contributing towards chronic lung diseases seen in communities and individuals continually exposed to high levels of CFA.
煤飞灰（CFA）是一种重要的环境污染物，当其飞扬在空气中时，会对呼吸系统造成危害。尽管先前的研究已经确定了 CFA 的矿物成分，但关于这些矿物结构习性的信息却很少。对来自英国、波兰和中国的电厂的样本进行了研究，以进一步了解影响 CFA 地球化学和矿物学的因素。使用 ICP-MS、FE-SEM/EDX、XRD 和激光衍射来研究物理化学特性。分析表明，不同地点之间的样品在元素组成和粒径分布上存在重要差异。对 HF 酸蚀刻的 CFA 的显微镜观察表明，存在的莫来石具有纤维状习性；纤维的长度在 1 到 10 微米之间。经常观察到可吸入颗粒（<10 微米）中含有纤维状莫来石。我们提出，这些难熔纤维在肺部环境中的生物持久性可能是导致长期暴露于高水平 CFA 的社区和个体中慢性肺部疾病的原因之一。
