Updated atmospheric speciated mercury emissions from iron and steel production in China during 2000–2015

Abstract

Abstract. Iron and steel production (ISP) is one of the significant atmospheric Hg emission sources in China. Atmospheric mercury (Hg) emissions from ISP during 2000-2015 were estimated by using a technology-based emission factor method. To support the application of this method, databases of Hg concentrations in raw materials, technology development trends, and Hg removal efficiencies of air pollution control devices (APCDs) were constructed through national sampling and literature review. Hg input to ISP increased from 21.6 t in 2000 to 94.5 t in 2015. In the various types of raw materials, coking coal and iron concentrates contributed 35-46 and 25-32 % of the total Hg input. Atmospheric Hg emissions from ISP increased from 11.5 t in 2000 to 32.7 t in 2015 with a peak of 35.6 t in 2013. Pollution control promoted the increase in average Hg removal efficiency, from 47 % in 2000 to 65 % in 2015. During the study period, sinter/pellet plants and blast furnaces were the largest two emission processes. However, emissions from roasting plants and coke ovens cannot be ignored, which accounted for 22-34 % of ISP's emissions. Overall, Hg speciation shifted from 50/44/6 (gaseous elemental Hg (Hg 0 )/gaseous oxidized Hg (Hg II )/particulate-bound Hg (Hg p )) in 2000 to 40/59/1 in 2015, which indicated a higher proportion of Hg deposition around the emission points. Future emissions of ISP were expected to decrease based on the comprehensive consideration crude-steel production, steel scrap utilization, energy saving, and pollution control measures.

Multi-year monitoring of atmospheric total gaseous mercury at a remote high-altitude site (Nam Co, 4730 m a.s.l.) in the inland Tibetan Plateau region

“…Notably, mercury records from glaciers and lake sediments suggest that the Tibetan Plateau is an important part of the global mercury cycle, acting as both a sink (mercury deposition to snow) and a source (release of mercury from melting ice) (e.g., Yang et al, 2010;Sun et al, 2017Sun et al, , 2018. Further, it has been increasingly perceived that the inland Tibetan Plateau can be influenced by transboundary air pollution such as black carbon originating from biomass burning in South Asia, which crosses the Himalayas (Xia et al, 2011;Cong et al, 2015;Wan et al, 2015;Li et al, 2016). Studies of mercury in precipitation and water vapor evidenced that the Tibetan Plateau is likely sensitive to pollutant input including mercury (Huang et al, 2012(Huang et al, , 2013.…”

“…In recent years, China and India signed the Minamata Convention and will probably control mercury emissions more strictly (Selin, 2014). Wu et al (2017) stated that atmospheric mercury emissions from iron and steel production decreased from 35.6 Mg in 2013 to 32.7 Mg in 2015, and Pacyna et al (2010) estimated that total mercury emissions in China would decrease from 635 Mg in 2005 to 290-380 Mg in 2020. However, Burger et al (2013) estimated that total mercury emissions in India would increase from 310 Mg in 2010 to 540 Mg in 2020.…”

Gaseous and Particulate Chlorine Emissions From Typical Iron and Steel Industry in China

“…where c is the calendar year; E i,c is annual atmospheric emissions of pollutant i in calendar year c (t/yr); p is the type of FGD technology, including limestone or ammonia WFGD, semidry FGD, activated coke dry FGD, and non-FGD (the flue gas after ESP process discharged directly without downstream FGD system treatment); EF i,p is the average EF of pollutant i for sintering after FGD process p (g/t); and A p,c is the activity level of sintering after FGD process p in calendar year c. A refined activity database about sintering desulfurization facilities listed by MEP is established, including sintering FGD commissioning date and installed capacity (MEP, 2014(MEP, , 2016Wang et al, 2019); detailed information on the activity level of sintering after wet/semidry/dry FGD process is listed in Table S2. The historical production outputs of sinter ore from 2005 to 2016 are obtained from the China Steel Yearbook (CISIA, 2001(CISIA, -2016Wu et al, 2017). Figure 2 shows the mass distribution of inorganic Cl among the three parts, that is, the FPM filter holder (Cl FPM ), the dry impingers and CPM filter holder (Cl CPM ), and the alkali absorption liquids (Cl Inorganic gases ) of the inorganic Cl sampling system, collected from the different processes of typical steel plants.…”

System Dynamics Modelling of the Global Extraction, Supply, Price, Reserves, Resources and Environmental Losses of Mercury

“…Mercury will prevail long in the environment after that due to mercury re-volatilisation and Table 5 Mercury in fossil fuels and potential amounts available for release of it was all released by fuel combustion. The mercury removal yield relates to cleaning systems applied to exhaust and to fuels production (Mojammal et al 2019;Bingham 1990;Selin 2009;Wilhelm 2001;Wilhelm et al 2007;Wu et al 2017 Coal 2,500,000 0.8; 0.5-5 2,000,000 1,300,000-5000,000 80 400,000 Sum 3,620,000 2,244,000 1,420,000-6,230,000 453,000…”