A review of atmospheric mercury emissions, pollution and control in China

Mercury, as a global pollutant, has significant impacts on the environment and human health. The current state of atmospheric mercury emissions, pollution and control in China is comprehensively reviewed in this paper. With about 500–800 t of anthropogenic mercury emissions, China contributes 25%–40% to the global mercury emissions. The dominant mercury emission sources in China are coal combustion, non-ferrous metal smelting, cement production and iron and steel production. The mercury emissions from natural sources in China are equivalent to the anthropogenic mercury emissions. The atmospheric mercury concentration in China is about 2–10 times the background level of North Hemisphere. The mercury deposition fluxes in remote areas in China are usually in the range of 10–50 μg·m−2·yr−1. To reduce mercury emissions, legislations have been enacted for power plants, non-ferrous metal smelters and waste incinerators. Currently mercury contented in the flue gas is mainly removed through existing air pollution control devices for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particles. Dedicated mercury control technologies are required in the future to further mitigate the mercury emissions in China.

[1]  V. Strezov,et al.  Speciation of As, Cr, Se and Hg under coal fired power station conditions , 2008 .

[2]  Lei Zhang,et al.  Atmospheric mercury concentration and chemical speciation at a rural site in Beijing, China: implications of mercury emission sources , 2013 .

[3]  R. Srivastava,et al.  Flue gas desulfurization: the state of the art. , 2001, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[4]  Andrew P. Jones,et al.  Mercury Capture and Fate Using Wet FGD at Coal-Fired Power Plants , 2006 .

[5]  Noda,et al.  Mercury emissions from a coal-fired power plant in Japan , 2000, The Science of the total environment.

[6]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Anthropogenic mercury emissions in China , 2005 .

[7]  D. Streets,et al.  Model estimate of mercury emission from natural sources in East Asia , 2008 .

[8]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Control strategies of atmospheric mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China , 2012, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[9]  Arctic Monitoring,et al.  AMAP/UNEP technical background report for the global mercury assessment 2013 : final technical report; output , 2013 .

[10]  W. Pan,et al.  Partitioning of mercury, arsenic, selenium, boron, and chloride in a full-scale coal combustion process equipped with selective catalytic reduction, electrostatic precipitation, and flue gas desulfurization systems , 2009 .

[11]  Ming-Quan Zhang,et al.  Evaluation of Mercury Emissions to the Atmosphere from Coal Combustion, China , 2002, Ambio.

[12]  Jinwon Park,et al.  Mercury emissions from selected stationary combustion sources in Korea. , 2004, The Science of the total environment.

[13]  Tatsuo Kimura.  Geochemistry of Trace Elements in Coal , 1993 .

[14]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Temporal trend and sources of speciated atmospheric mercury at Waliguan GAW station, Northwestern China , 2011 .

[15]  Marcello M. Veiga,et al.  Mercury and Artisanal Mining in China , 2004 .

[16]  G. Carmichael,et al.  Study of atmospheric mercury budget in East Asia using STEM-Hg modeling system. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[17]  J. Tratnik,et al.  Mercury species, mass flows and processes in a cement plant , 2010 .

[18]  Zhonggen Li,et al.  Distribution and wet deposition fluxes of total and methyl mercury in Wujiang River Basin, Guizhou, China , 2008 .

[19]  R. Mason,et al.  Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources , 2010 .

[20]  X. Faïn,et al.  Bromine-induced oxidation of mercury in the mid-latitude atmosphere , 2011 .

[21]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Mercury emission and speciation of coal-fired power plants in China , 2009 .

[22]  Beatrice Gralton,et al.  Washington DC - USA , 2008 .

[23]  Hongjie Zhang,et al.  Atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations and mercury depositions at a high-altitude mountain peak in south China , 2010 .

[24]  R. Mason,et al.  Mercury fate and transport in the global atmosphere : emissions, measurements and models , 2009 .

[25]  H. Tian,et al.  Temporal trends and spatial variation characteristics of hazardous air pollutant emission inventory from municipal solid waste incineration in China. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[26]  P. López-Mahía,et al.  As, Hg, and Se flue gas sampling in a coal-fired power plant and their fate during coal combustion. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[27]  Joel K. Sikkema,et al.  Mercury regulation, fate, transport, transformation, and abatement within cement manufacturing facilities: review. , 2011, The Science of the total environment.

[28]  S. Strode,et al.  Sources, fate and transport of atmospheric mercury from Asia , 2008 .

[29]  Wei Zheng,et al.  Total particulate and reactive gaseous mercury in ambient air on the eastern slope of the Mt. Gongga area, China , 2008 .

[30]  J. Hao,et al.  Trend and characteristics of atmospheric emissions of Hg, As, and Se from coal combustion in China, 1980–2007 , 2010 .

[31]  Zhonggen Li,et al.  Metallogeny and environmental impact of Hg in Zn deposits in China , 2012 .

[32]  Y. Seo,et al.  Studies on Speciation Changes and Mass Distribution of Mercury in a Bituminous Coal-Fired Power Plant by Combining Field Data and Chemical Equilibrium Calculation , 2010 .

[33]  Prakash Karamchandani,et al.  Global source attribution for mercury deposition in the United States. , 2004, Environmental science & technology.

[34]  Kebin He,et al.  An inventory of primary air pollutants and CO2 emissions from cement production in China, 1990–2020 , 2011 .

[35]  Ping Li,et al.  Spatial distribution of mercury deposition fluxes in Wanshan Hg mining area, Guizhou province, China , 2012 .

[36]  Na Liu,et al.  Mercury in the marine boundary layer and seawater of the South China Sea: Concentrations, sea/air flux, and implication for land outflow , 2010 .

[37]  Wei Zheng,et al.  Atmospheric mercury in Changbai Mountain area, northeastern China II. The distribution of reactive gaseous mercury and particulate mercury and mercury deposition fluxes. , 2009, Environmental research.

[38]  T. Lee,et al.  Estimation of total annual mercury emissions from cement manufacturing facilities in Korea , 2012 .

[39]  J. Bustard,et al.  Full-Scale Evaluation of Mercury Control Technologies with PRB Coals , 2005 .

[40]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  A preliminary study on mercury contamination to the environment from artisanal zinc smelting using indigenous methods in Hezhang county, Guizhou, China-part 1: mercury emission from zinc smelting and its influences on the surface waters , 2004 .

[41]  MA Zhuang-wei,et al.  The estimation of mercury emission from coal combustion in China. , 2000 .

[42]  N. Duan,et al.  Gaseous elemental mercury concentration in atmosphere at urban and remote sites in China. , 2007, Journal of environmental sciences.

[43]  Elsie M. Sunderland,et al.  Correction to “Global 3‐D land‐ocean‐atmosphere model for mercury: Present‐day versus preindustrial cycles and anthropogenic enrichment factors for deposition” , 2008 .

[44]  Takahisa Yokoyama,et al.  Emissions of mercury and other trace elements from coal-fired power plants in Japan. , 2006, The Science of the total environment.

[45]  D. Streets,et al.  Estimating mercury emissions from a zinc smelter in relation to China's mercury control policies. , 2010, Environmental pollution.

[46]  R. Ebinghaus,et al.  A review of worldwide atmospheric mercury measurements , 2010 .

[47]  Wei Zheng,et al.  Atmospheric mercury in Changbai Mountain area, northeastern China I. The seasonal distribution pattern of total gaseous mercury and its potential sources. , 2009, Environmental research.

[48]  Jingkun Jiang,et al.  Trends in anthropogenic mercury emissions in China from 1995 to 2003. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[49]  D. Wen,et al.  Improved model for mercury emission, transport and deposition , 2006 .

[50]  C. Caldwell,et al.  Concentration and dry deposition of mercury species in arid south central New Mexico (2001-2002). , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[51]  C. Romero,et al.  COMPARISON AND VALIDATION OF OHM AND SCEM MEASUREMENTS FOR A FULL-SCALE COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT , 2007 .

[52]  Ying Teng,et al.  Mercury contamination in vicinity of secondary copper smelters in Fuyang, Zhejiang Province, China: levels and contamination in topsoils. , 2009, Environmental pollution.

[53]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Were mercury emission factors for Chinese non-ferrous metal smelters overestimated? Evidence from onsite measurements in six smelters. , 2012, Environmental pollution.

[54]  Yong-Chil Seo,et al.  Speciation and mass distribution of mercury in a bituminous coal-fired power plant , 2006 .

[55]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Seasonal variation of gaseous mercury exchange rate between air and water surface over Baihua reservoir, Guizhou, China , 2004 .

[56]  R. Ebinghaus,et al.  Trends in air concentration and deposition of mercury in the coastal environment of the North Sea Area , 2007 .

[57]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  A review of studies on atmospheric mercury in China. , 2012, The Science of the total environment.

[58]  Xiaoshan Zhang,et al.  Enhancing atmospheric mercury research in China to improve the current understanding of the global mercury cycle: the need for urgent and closely coordinated efforts. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[59]  Xinming Wang,et al.  Total gaseous mercury in Pearl River Delta region, China during 2008 winter period , 2011 .

[60]  G. Keeler,et al.  Automated speciated mercury measurements in Michigan. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[61]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Total gaseous mercury emissions from soil in Guiyang, Guizhou, China , 2005 .

[62]  Shuxiao Wang,et al.  Update of mercury emissions from China's primary zinc, lead and copper smelters, 2000–2010 , 2012 .

[63]  Yong Geng,et al.  The gigatonne gap in China’s carbon dioxide inventories , 2012 .

[64]  J. A. Withum,et al.  EVALUATION OF MERCURY EMISSIONS FROM COAL-FIRED FACILITIES WITH SCR AND FGD SYSTEMS , 2006 .

[65]  Mercury Measurement and Its Control: What We Know, Have Learned, and Need to Further Investigate. , 1999, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[66]  E. Prestbo.  Wet deposition of mercury in the U.S. and Canada, 1996-2005: Results and analysis of the NADP mercury deposition network (MDN) , 2009 .

[67]  John R. Neuenswander.  Modern power systems , 1971 .

[68]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Total gaseous mercury concentrations in ambient air in the eastern slope of Mt. Gongga, South-Eastern fringe of the Tibetan plateau, China , 2008 .

[69]  Simon Wilson,et al.  Global emission of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources in 2005 and projections to 2020 , 2010 .

[70]  John Munthe,et al.  Atmospheric mercury—An overview , 1998 .

[71]  G. Carmichael,et al.  Top-down estimate of mercury emissions in China using four-dimensional variational data assimilation , 2007 .

[72]  Qianggong Zhang,et al.  Wet deposition of mercury at a remote site in the Tibetan Plateau: Concentrations, speciation, and fluxes , 2012 .

[73]  Shuxiao Wang,et al.  Synergistic Mercury Removal by Conventional Pollutant Control Strategies for Coal-Fired Power Plants in China , 2010, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[74]  T. D. Brown,et al.  Mercury Measurement and Its Control: What We Know, Have Learned, and Need to Further Investigate. , 1999, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[75]  Ruud Meij,et al.  Mercury emissions from coal-fired power stations: The current state of the art in the Netherlands. , 2006, The Science of the total environment.

[76]  J. Sommar,et al.  Spatial distribution of mercury deposition fluxes in Wanshan Hg mining area , Guizhou province , China , 2012 .

[77]  Jingkun Jiang,et al.  [Development of mercury emission inventory from coal combustion in China]. , 2005, Huan jing ke xue= Huanjing kexue.

[78]  Simon Wilson,et al.  Global anthropogenic mercury emission inventory for 2000 , 2006 .

[79]  Zhongzhu Liang,et al.  Mercury contamination due to zinc smelting and chlor-alkali production in NE China , 2011 .

[80]  Say Kee Ong,et al.  Corrigendum to “Mercury regulation, fate, transport, transformation, and abatement within cement manufacturing facilities: Review” [Sci Total Environ 409 (20) (2011) 4167–4178] , 2012 .

[81]  Zhongshen Zhang,et al.  Mercury distribution and bioaccumulation up the soil-plant-grasshopper-spider food chain in Huludao City, China. , 2010, Journal of environmental sciences.

[82]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Speciated atmospheric mercury and its potential source in Guiyang, China , 2011 .

[83]  J. Hao,et al.  A Review of Key Hazardous Trace Elements in Chinese Coals: Abundance, Occurrence, Behavior during Coal Combustion and Their Environmental Impacts , 2013 .

[84]  Chen Lei,et al.  Mercury transformation across particulate control devices in six power plants of China: The co-effect of chlorine and ash composition , 2007 .

[85]  Yong Han,et al.  Characteristics of atmospheric Total Gaseous Mercury (TGM) observed in urban Nanjing, China , 2012 .

[86]  Y. Yi-chun.  Mercury in Coal of China , 2002 .

[87]  Zhonggen Li,et al.  Mercury emission to atmosphere from primary Zn production in China. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[88]  Junfeng Li,et al.  Urban environmental mercury in Changchun, a metropolitan city in Northeastern China: source, cycle, and fate. , 2004, The Science of the total environment.

[89]  Xiaoshan Zhang,et al.  Ground and shipboard measurements of atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury over the Yellow Sea region during 2007–2008 , 2011 .

[90]  R. Herbert,et al.  Global emission and production of mercury during the pyrometallurgical extraction of nonferrous sulfide ores. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[91]  Hong Chen,et al.  Spatial and temporal distribution of gaseous elemental mercury in Chongqing, China , 2009, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[92]  T. Ho,et al.  Estimating mercury emission outflow from East Asia using CMAQ-Hg , 2010 .

[93]  V. Strezov,et al.  Speciation of mercury in coal-fired power station flue gas , 2010 .

[94]  Xiaoshan Zhang,et al.  Distribution and air-sea exchange of mercury (Hg) in the Yellow Sea , 2011 .

[95]  F. Geng,et al.  Measurements of atmospheric mercury in Shanghai during September 2009 , 2010 .

[96]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Mitigation Potential of Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants in China , 2012 .

[97]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Two years of measurements of atmospheric total gaseous mercury (TGM) at a remote site in Mt. Changbai area, Northeastern China , 2012 .

[98]  Xinbin Feng,et al.  Elevated atmospheric deposition and dynamics of mercury in a remote upland forest of southwestern China. , 2010, Environmental pollution.

[99]  Wei Zheng,et al.  Temporal variation of total gaseous mercury in the air of Guiyang, China , 2004 .

[100]  William F. Fitzgerald,et al.  The biogeochemical cycling of elemental mercury: Anthropogenic influences☆ , 1994 .

[101]  Nicola Pirrone,et al.  A Synthesis of Progress and Uncertainties in Attributing the Sources of Mercury in Deposition , 2007, Ambio.

[102]  Jiming Hao,et al.  Atmospheric emissions estimation of Hg, As, and Se from coal-fired power plants in China, 2007. , 2011, The Science of the total environment.

[103]  R. Yantosca,et al.  Trans‐Pacific transport of mercury , 2008 .

[104]  M. Landis,et al.  The dry-deposition of speciated mercury to the Florida Everglades: Measurements and modeling , 2007 .

[105]  Xiaoshan Zhang,et al.  Atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) over a coastal/rural site downwind of East China: Temporal variation and long-range transport , 2011 .

[106]  F. Goodarzi.  Speciation and mass-balance of mercury from pulverized coal fired power plants burning western Canadian subbituminous coals. , 2004, Journal of environmental monitoring : JEM.

[107]  J. Rudd,et al.  Long-term wet and dry deposition of total and methyl mercury in the remote boreal ecoregion of Canada. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[108]  Guijian Liu,et al.  The distribution, occurrence and environmental effect of mercury in Chinese coals. , 2007, The Science of the total environment.

[109]  Shuxiao Wang,et al.  Influence of mercury and chlorine content of coal on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[110]  K. Oshita,et al.  Mercury emission and behavior in primary ferrous metal production , 2011 .

[111]  Zhonggen Li,et al.  Mercury and other metal and metalloid soil contamination near a Pb/Zn smelter in east Hunan province, China , 2011 .

[112]  A. Dastoor,et al.  Long range transport of mercury to the Arctic and across Canada , 2010 .

[113]  Xiaoshan Zhang,et al.  Mercury fluxes and pools in three subtropical forested catchments, southwest China. , 2009, Environmental pollution.

[114]  J. T. Riley,et al.  Mercury emissions from a 100-MW wall-fired boiler as measured by semicontinuous mercury monitor and Ontario Hydro Method , 2004 .

[115]  Yufeng Duan,et al.  Experimental study on mercury transformation and removal in coal-fired boiler flue gases , 2009 .

[116]  Min Liu,et al.  [Estimate the mercury emissions from non-coal sources in China]. , 2006, Huan jing ke xue= Huanjing kexue.

[117]  Zhonggen Li,et al.  Total gaseous mercury exchange between water and air during cloudy weather conditions over Hongfeng Reservoir, Guizhou, China , 2008 .