Fine-grained barite in coal fly ash from the Upper Silesian Industrial Region

Barite nanocrystals are common and abundant in the troposphere over the Upper Silesian Industrial Region, Poland. The presence of barite nanocrystals is the result of burning Ba-enriched coals (up to 4,260 ppm Ba). ATEM, ASEM and EPMA analyses provided evidence of inefficient coal burning for domestic purposes at temperatures of 800-900 °C as the cause of emissions of barite, which survived unmelted. Much higher temperatures of coal burning for industrial purposes resulted in thermal decomposition of barite into BaO, which could react with airborne sulfuric acid to produce nanometre-sized secondary barite. Formation of both the secondary barite and gypsum in the troposphere contributes to the lowering of acidity of rain over Upper Silesia. Barite nanocrystals are often embedded in sheets of hydrocarbon materials with sizes in the range of respirable aerosols; therefore, they may enter the human respiratory system.