Coal Waste Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Company Invests In Extracting Rare Earth Minerals From Coal Waste

A company is making a big financial investment to find new uses for the state’s coal mining waste.

Gov. Jim Justice was in Wyoming County Thursday afternoon to announce Omnis Sublimation Recovery Technologies will invest $60 million in the county to extract rare earth metals from coal waste impoundments.

“We’ve given our sweat, our lives and every single thing we have to produce the coal that we’ve produced and the waste bears these rare earth metals,” Justice said.

Rare earth metals are relatively abundant and are used in many modern electronics, most notably smartphones, but their extraction and refinement is technically difficult and traditionally environmentally damaging.

Justice said Omnis’ new technology will allow for safer extraction.

“The problem is we’ve never been able to find a way to extract them that was environmentally sound and on and on,” Justice said.

Omnis claims their technology can extract pure metals from coal impoundment mineral waste using ultra-high heat without acids or harmful chemicals. The technology recovers 100 percent of the metals, including all critical, strategic, and rare earth metals, with zero waste and no harmful emissions.

China currently produces more than 80 percent of the world’s rare earth metals.

As part of his infrastructure plan, President Joe Biden has prioritized creating a domestic supply chain for rare earth metals.

Omnis has committed to hiring and training 100 team members to operate this technology in a safe, clean environment in the state.

New Research Finds Toxic Risks For Some Coal Waste Disposal In W.Va.

Two of coal’s pollution legacies are acid mine drainage, the waste from mining coal, and fly ash, waste from burning coal. For years, some energy companies have put the waste into wet or dry storage impoundments.

Research has proved that combining fly ash with acid mine drainage can neutralize the acid. But a new study called, “Water quality implications of the neutralization of acid mine drainage with coal fly ash from India and the United States” found that the combination can be toxic, and include things like arsenic, lead and more.

A few years ago companies began using it in abandoned coal mines to neutralize some of the acid drainage.

In fact, putting fly ash into former mine sites is done in West Virginia. The study found that the combination can cause contamination harmful to human health.

“We realized that the properties of coal ash allows it to neutralize very acidic fluids like acid mine drainage,” AvnerVengosh, Professor of Environmental Quality at Duke University said.

The article was published in Fuel, an open-access, peer-reviewed research journal about fuel science.

Vengosh is one of the authors.

“Some fly ash has a very successful ability to neutralize acid mine drainage,” Vangosh said. “For example, [fly ash] in India, because of the chemistry of the original coal, they have less capacity to neutralize acid mine drainage. But coming back to the U.S., we found that the Appalachian fly ash, fly ash that we use so commonly in West Virginia, has pretty good capability of neutralization. However, because of the chemistry of the fly ash, and because it contains high concentrations of contaminants like arsenic, selenium, molybdenum, some elements that we know could hurt human health and the environment.

“When we [observed] the interaction of acid mine drainage with the fly ash, we actually found a negative impact on the treated effluent. So it’s like, pick your poison. On one hand, we are reducing the acidity of the acid mine drainage and it becoming no acid anymore, and therefore it’s very beneficial. However, on the other hand, we are generating what we call secondary contamination. So the fly ash would contribute contaminants into those effluent.”

Even though contaminants like arsenic occur naturally in the environment, it’s still dangerous to human health.

“Even a small amount of arsenic could be devastating for your health. So the fact that it’s coming from naturally occurring has nothing to do with its toxicity and its impact on human health,” Vengosh said. “This is really important. The quality of the water in West Virginia is one of the best I’ve ever measured in my life. Because of the spring and the water, the surface water is really clean. However, once you start to have mining, mountaintop mining, and or acid mine drainage, this high quality of water deteriorates very quickly.

“Water is becoming a major issue and one of the consequences of climate change. And global warming that we are seeing is that water in some areas is becoming more scarce. And we’re talking about water, the amount of water, but the quality in many parts of the world are being degraded because of climate change as well. So preserving clean water is really essential for our next generation to come.”

Vengosh said he’s not an activist, but he hopes to see new policies that protect public health based on this research.

“I think, is awareness that, regardless of your political belief, regardless where you come from, you have to understand the fact that coal ash is, and coal mining in general, presents challenges to our environment and to human health.

“I hope that there will be some kind of political consequences that people would say, ‘stop hurting, stop polluting our water,’ and that we are not putting ourselves in danger.”

Vangosh also wants to take this research on location in the “real world” and question the benefits of such disposal.

“I would expect the West Virginia authorities [WVDEP] would jump into that and test all the water that’s coming from those abandoned coal mines,” Vengosh said, “and to determine what are the actual risks on the ground for people who live there.”

Pilot Project Mines Coal Waste For Valuable Rare Earth Elements

A pilot-scale facility that extracts valuable rare earth elements from coal waste byproducts officially opened its doors this week at West Virginia University.

Advocates of the project are hopeful that environmental waste left by Appalachia’s coal mining legacy could one day fuel an economic boom in the region while also providing some national security.

“This could go a long way forward in creating new economic opportunity for West Virginia and this region and treat acid mine drainage, and turn it into a financial boon instead of a financial burden,” Brian Anderson, director of WVU’s Energy Institute told the crowd.

The Rare Earth Extraction Facility located at the National Research Center for Coal and Energy on WVU’s Evansdale campus in Morgantown is a collaboration between the university, the Department of Energy (DOE) and private partners.

The research facility extracts valuable rare earth elements from acid mine drainage (AMD), which is the most abundant pollutant in West Virginia waters. In just West Virginia and Pennsylvania, it’s estimated that about 10,000 miles of streams are polluted by AMD.

17 rare earth elements exist on the planet and they’re used in everything from cellphones to stealth bombers. While ubiquitous in the earth’s crust, they’re called “rare” because they don’t exist anywhere in concentrated amounts. Currently, China dominates the global rare earth elements market.

“Without those rare earth elements, we can’t have energy security, we can’t have financial security, we can’t have defense security,” said Steven Winberg, assistant secretary for fossil energy at the Department of Energy. “That’s how impactful this is.”

Developing a domestic source of rare earth elements is a research priority for the DOE. The agency kicked in much of the funding for the pilot facility and researchers from the National Energy Technology Laboratory have participated in the project.

Still More to Learn

At the pilot plant, sludge from the nearby Omega Mine in Grafton is treated with a series of acidic chemicals. Then, it’s filtered through up to 100 milk carton-sized mixers that quietly whir, no louder than your run-of-the-mill fan. At every stage, the rare earth elements separate out.

Two of the mixers at the Rare Earth Extraction Facility at WVU.

What remains is a concentrated amalgamation of a bunch of rare earth elements that will need to be further processed.

Paul Ziemkiewicz is director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute and the lead developer behind this project. He said it’s likely the elements will separate at some degree.

“But we won’t really know until we run this thing,” he said.

The pilot plant aims to iron out the kinks before this process can be scaled up, but if it can be done, Ziemkiewicz believes it could mean an economic windfall for the region. His team estimates Appalachia’s coal sludge could produce up to 800 tons of these elements each year, worth more than $190 million.

He said they hope to be able to scale up the project for commercial use within five years.

Coal Waste Plant in Fight in Struggle to Stay Open

A coal waste plant at risk of shutting down in West Virginia is hoping to stay open through state proceedings.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Grant Town Power Plant’s owner, American Bituminous Power Partners, has teetered on the verge of bankruptcy, according to company filings.

In May, the state Public Service Commission denied the company’s proposal to increase its electric energy purchase agreement with FirstEnergy company Mon Power from $34.25 per megawatt hour to $40 per megawatt hour, which would have bumped up customer rates, so it could have a better chance at staying open.

But the PSC kept the company’s EEPA rate the same to allow American Bituminous an opportunity to continue operating while renegotiating its business structure.

Environmental activists have appealed, saying the PSC’s order contained “legal errors.”