Mercury Emission from Anthropogenic Sources in Poland and Their Scenarios to the Year 2020

Abstract

This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding sources of anthropogenic mercury emission in Poland for the year 2005 and presents projection of mercury emission in perspective to the year 2020. These projections are treated separately as emissions from by-product sources and from product use since abatement strategies for these two source categories are very different. Emission projections until the year 2020 were prepared for: Status Quo scenario, Extended Emission Control scenario (EXEC) as well as for Maximum Feasible Technical Reduction scenario (MFTR). The general results were that Hg emission in Status Quo scenario, where no further action is taken to reduce mercury emission is predicted to rise between 2005 and 2020 for by-product sources, as a consequence of growing production of industrial goods and the consumption of raw materials, and is expected to be at the same level for the year 2020 for product use sources in comparison to the base year 2005, where no changes in consumption model were assumed. For EXEC and MFTR scenarios, assuming implementation of efficient control devices and changes in consumption model, decrease of mercury emission from by-product sources is expected between 2005 and 2020. Emission from mercury use in products for these scenarios is also predicted to decrease as a result of drop in mercury consumption. This paper presents also the social benefits for Poland result from Hg emission reduction and considered separately for ingestion and inhalation pathway. The costs and the social benefits related to the reduction of the heavy metals and PM2.5 are also presented.

Mercury bioaccumulation in hair and skin of arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in rural and urbanized region

“…In Poland, according to various scenarios (BAU, POT, DEG), its amount was estimated at a level of 6.2-17.4 Mg in 2010 (Glodek et al 2010). Prognoses of Hg emission by ten European countries with the highest emission assume reduction to 179.6 Mg/year (BAU scenario) or 64.4 Mg/year (DEG scenario) by 2020 (Pacyna et al 2006).…”

Assessing Mercury Content in Plant and Animal Raw Materials in an Area Impacted by the Copper Industry

“…was between 1,010 and 4,070 Mg [9]. In Poland, according to different scenarios, Hg annual emissions in 2020 will be between 8.2 (MFTR restrictive scenario) and 21.6 Mg (SQ scenario), while for the base year 2005 it was estimated to be 21.2 Mg [11]. The mercury emission forecast from 10 European countries (including Poland) with the largest emission assumes its reduction to 179.6 Mg per year (BAU scenario) or 64.…”

Emission of Mercury From Polish Large-Scale Utility Boilers

“…due to humanactivity [5,6]. In order to decrease the emission of Hg numerous efforts are undertaken as discussed e.g.…”

“…The problem associated with the emission of mercury seems to be particularly serious for Poland where almost 85% of the energy is converted due to the combustion of coal (hardcoal and lignite). Rough estimations [5,6] also confirm that the power generation sector is responsible for over 50% of the total atmospheric mercury emission. Since in recent years Polish power generation facilities consumed roughly over 40 Mt of the hard coal and over 60 Mt of lignite [7] the antropogenic emission of Hg could be estimated at somewhere between 10 and 20 Mt per year.…”