Mercury contamination and potential impacts from municipal waste incinerator on Samui Island, Thailand

Abstract

In recent years, mercury (Hg) pollution generated by municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) has become the subject of serious public concern. On Samui Island, Thailand, a large-scale municipal waste incinerator has been in operation for over 7 years with a capacity of 140 tons/day for meeting the growing demand for municipal waste disposal. This research assessed Hg contamination in environmental matrices adjacent to the waste incinerating plant. Total Hg concentrations were determined in municipal solid waste, soil and sediment within a distance of 100 m to 5 km from the incinerator operation in both wet and dry seasons. Hg analyses conducted in municipal solid waste showed low levels of Hg ranging between 0.15-0.56 mg/kg. The low level was due to the type of waste incinerator. Waste such as electrical appliances, motors and spare parts, rubber tires and hospital wastes are not allowed to feed into the plant. As a result, low Hg levels were also found in fly and bottom ashes (0.1-0.4 mg/kg and <or=0.03 mg/kg, respectively). Stack concentration of Hg were less than 0.4 microg/Nm(3). Since Hg emissions were at low concentrations, Hg in soil from atmospheric fallout near this incinerator including uptake by local weeds were very low ranging from non detectable to 399 micro g/kg. However, low but elevated levels of Hg (76-275 micro g/kg) were observed in surface soil and deeper layers (0-40 cm) in the predominant downwind direction of incinerator over a distance of between 0.5-5 km. Soil Hg concentrations measured from a reference/background track opposite of the prevailing wind direction were lower ranging between 7-46 micro g/kg. Nevertheless, the trend of Hg build up in soil was clearly seen in the wet season only, suggesting that wet deposition process is a major Hg pollution source. Hg concentrations in the sea bottom sediment collected next to the last station track was small with values between 35-67 micro g/kg. Based upon the overall findings, in terms of current potential environmental risk, the environment has not yet been appreciably contaminated from Hg emissions produced by this incinerator. However the increase of Hg measured in downwind direction of the incinerator should be monitored for future potential risk.

The Mercury Behavior and Contamination in Soil Profiles in Mun River Basin, Northeast Thailand

“…The mercury content of the agricultural land topsoil (0–20 cm) in this study (9.8–21.5 μg∙kg −1 ) was higher than that of other paddy land (3.2–4.05 μg∙kg −1 ) [21] in Thailand. The average contents of THg were generally lower than those in different contamination sources have been reported by other researchers in Thailand, such as municipal waste in Samui Island (76–215 μg∙kg −1 ) [30] and mining in Phichit Province (16–181 μg∙kg −1 ) [31], indicating that the contamination from agriculture is lower than those from mining or municipal waste.…”

Investigation of mercury levels in soil around a municipal solid waste incinerator in Shenzhen, China

“…Most Hg is emitted into the atmosphere with flue gas or fly ash in toxic forms of Hg 0 and HgCl 2 (Carpi 1997). Not managed appropriately, the emissions from MSW incineration may impair both ecosystem and human health (Muenhor et al 2009;Reis et al 2007;Zemba et al 1996).…”

“…Significant anthropogenic Hg sources include fossil fuel combustion (Yang and Wang 2008), municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration (Muenhor et al 2009;Reis et al 2007;Shaub 1993;Zemba et al 1996), the chloralkali industry (Kinsey et al 2004b;Southworth et al 2005), fluorescent manufacturing (Clear and Berman 1994), battery manufacturing (Semu et al 1986), pharmaceutical (Schilcher and Trittler 1997) and pesticide use (Primbs et al 2008). Among these Hg sources, MSW incineration is commonplace in many regions including North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, and Africa, whereas Asia discharges the most via this route (Pirrone et al 1996).…”

A Deposição De Resíduos Industriais Organoclorados No Litoral Do Estado De São Paulo: Um Estudo De Caso

“…Adicionalmente, a pressão dos grupos de A deposição de resíduos industriais organoclorados no litoral do estado de São Paulo: um estudo de caso interesse tem ampliado as pressões as quais as organizações estão submetidas. Isso faz com que os gestores tenham que se preocupar com situações tais como a variedade de fontes de contaminação (Machemer, Hosick, & Ingamells, 2007;Wasay, Parker, & Van Gel, 2001), destinação incorreta de lixo eletrônico (Nguyen et al, 2009), projetos de reciclagem mal gerenciados (Ali, 2002;Gutberlet & Baeder, 2008), processamento de lixo doméstico (Bahaa-Eldin, Yusoff, Rahim, Zuhairi, & Ghani, 2008), incineração inadequada (Muenhor et al, 2009;Rimmer et al, 2006) ou destinação imprópria de resíduos médicos ou de laboratórios de análise e pesquisa (Blenkharn, 2006;Huang & Lin, 2008;Nazar, Pordeus, & Werneck, 2005;Pedrozo & Philipi Jr., 2005;Silva, Hoppe, Ravanello, & Mello, 2005;Vieira et al, 2009).…”