Most early power plants were fueled with coal. Coal was the best-know, most abundant fossil fuel at the time. It had several disadvantages, however. It was dirty to mine, transport, and work with. It also did not burn very cleanly. Areas around a coal-fired power plant were characterized by clouds of smoke belching from smokestacks and films of ash deposited on homes, cars, grass, and any other exposed surface.
By the 1920s interest in oil-fired power plants began to grow. The number of these plants remained relatively low, however, as long as coal was inexpensive. But, by the 1960s, there was a resurgence of interest in oil-fired plants, largely in response to increased awareness of the many harmful effects of coal combustion on the environment. One of the most troublesome effects of coal combustion is acid rain. Coal contains trace amounts of elements which produce acid-forming oxides when burned. The two most important of these elements are sulfur and nitrogen. During the combustion of coal, sulfur is oxidized to sulfur dioxide and nitrogen to nitric oxide. Both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide undergo further changes in the atmosphere, forming sulfur trioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
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