Atmospheric emission inventory of cadmium from anthropogenic sources

Abstract

To demonstrate the atmospheric emission characteristics of cadmium (Cd), which is considered an important contaminant to human health and environment, a comprehensive emission inventory of Cd has been established by applying the best available emission factors and activity data for the first time. This inventory covers major anthropogenic sources in China and a bottom-up approach is adopted to compile the inventory for the sources where possible. The total emissions of Cd are estimated at about 743.77 metric tons for the year 2009, of which the contributions of industrial processes and combustion sources are approximately 56.6 and 43.4 %, respectively. Nonferrous metals smelting including copper, lead, and zinc, ranks as the leading source accounting for about 40.6 % of the total. The high contribution results from the rapid growth of nonferrous metallurgical industry that reflects a new focus of Cd emission pollution in China. Cd emissions from coal combustion are estimated at approximately 273.69 metric tons, with a share of 36.8 %, in which industrial coal-burning sector is thought to be the primary source. Moreover, Cd emissions are spatially allocated onto grid cells with a resolution of 0.5°9 0.5°, indicating that the emissions are mainly distributed among the regions of eastern, central and southern China. In addition, the uncertainties in the inventory are quantified by using a Monte Carlo simulation, and the overall uncertainty falls within a range of -15 to 48 %. It implies that more field tests for industrial coal combustion and metals smelting process are very necessary.

The current status of heavy metal in lake sediments from China: Pollution and ecological risk assessment

“…Cheng et al. () reported that the total emissions of Cd are estimated at about 743.77 tons in 2009, of which the contributions of industrial processes and combustion sources are approximately 56.6% and 43.4%, respectively. The total emissions of Cd from wastewater discharge were 17.25 tons in 2014 (National Bureau of Statistics, ), while the total emissions of Cd from coal combustion have rapidly increased from 31.14 tons in 1980 to 261.52 tons in 2008, at an annual average growth rate of 8.0% (Tian et al., ).…”

The Cd isotope composition of atmospheric aerosols from the Tropical Atlantic Ocean

“…Tracing external, atmospheric inputs of Cd to the surface ocean is pertinent for understanding the impact of anthropogenic activities on marine Cd inventories. Atmospheric Cd sources are currently dominated by emissions from high-temperature anthropogenic processes, most importantly metal smelting (particularly of Pb-Zn ores), coal combustion, and waste incineration [Nriagu and Pacyna, 1988, Pacyna and Pacyna, 2001, Pacyna et al, 2009Cheng et al, 2014]. During these high-temperature processes, Cd is vaporized and condenses onto fine (<1 μm) particles in the atmosphere [Raes et al, 2000;Cloquet et al, 2006].…”

Cadmium resistance mechanism in Escherichia coli P4 and its potential use to bioremediate environmental cadmium

“…Though it is found abundantly in earth crust and commonly associated with ores of zinc, lead, and copper (Cheng et al 2014), its increasingly high concentration in our environment is due to human activities (Maynaud et al 2014) such as mining, electroplating, stabilizing plastics, manufacturing batteries, alloy, pigment, and high phosphate fertilizers (Klaassen et al 2009;Yazdankhah et al 2010;Zeng et al 2013). It poses a serious threat to human health as it gains entry into the human food chain (Xu et al 2014).…”