Update of mercury emissions from China's primary zinc, lead and copper smelters, 2000–2010

Abstract

Abstract. China is the largest anthropogenic mercury emitter in the world, where primary nonferrous metal smelting is regarded as one of the most significant emission sources. In this study, atmospheric mercury emissions from primary zinc, lead and copper smelters in China between 2000–2010 were estimated using a technology-based methodology with comprehensive consideration of mercury concentration in concentrates, smelting processes, mercury removal efficiencies of air pollution control devices (APCDs) and the application percentage of a certain type of APCD combinations. Our study indicated that atmospheric mercury emissions from nonferrous metal smelters in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010 were 67.6, 100.1, 86.7, 80.6 and 72.5 t, respectively. In 2010, the amounts of mercury emitted into atmosphere were 39.4 ± 31.5, 30.6 ± 29.1, and 2.5 ± 1.1 t from primary zinc, lead and copper smelters, respectively. The largest amount of mercury was emitted from the Gansu province, followed by Henan, Yunnan, Hunan, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi provinces. Hg2+, Hg0 and Hgp emissions from zinc smelters were 25.6, 11.8 and 1.97 t, respectively. The emissions percentages of Hg2+ and Hg0 were almost the same from lead and copper smelters. The average mercury removal efficiency was 90.5 ± 52.5%, 71.2 ± 63.7% and 91.8 ± 40.7% in zinc, lead, and copper smelters, respectively.

Source attribution and process analysis for atmospheric mercury in eastern China simulated by CMAQ-Hg

“…Overall, MET contributed 8.4, 8.2 and 5.0 % to GEM, GOM and PBM concentrations and was responsible for 4.7 and 7.2 % of the annual wet and dry deposition in eastern China, respectively. Although MET was distributed widely in eastern China, the effects of emissions from MET were greatest in Shaanxi Province due to high mercury concentrations in zinc ore and some small-scale plants with poor mercury control devices (Wu et al, 2012). …”

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

“…For the short-process steelmaking method, the arc steelmaking process is applied to produce steel by mainly using scraps as raw materials. In each process, Hg input due to the use of intermediated products (e.g., quicklime, caustic dolomite, and coke) was calculated by using the mass balance method (Wu et al, 2012). National sampling and Hg concentration analysis were conducted to construct the Hg concentration databases for the consumed raw materials.…”

“…National sampling and Hg concentration analysis were conducted to construct the Hg concentration databases for the consumed raw materials. The sampling, preparation, and analysis methods were described in detail in our previous studies (Wu et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012). Lumex 915M + pyro attachment (with a detection limit of 0.5 ng g −1 ) was applied to analyze Hg concentration by using the U.S. EPA method 7473 (US EPA, 1998).…”

“…Zhang et al, 2015). As for Hg removal efficiencies of APCDs, we hypothesized that the use of data from recent field experiments on atmospheric Hg emission characteristics in China's ISP will provide a foundation for the technologybased emission factor model (Wu et al, , 2012L. Zhang et al, 2015).…”

“…The dominant parameters of a technology-based emission factor included Hg removal efficiencies of APCDs and Hg concentrations in raw materials (Wu et al, , 2012L. Zhang et al, 2015).…”