Abstract
Mercury (Hg) emission from coal combustion in China is estimated in this study and its deposition calculated using the Models-3 Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ-Hg) modeling system with meteorological fields calculated by MM5. Three kinds of Hg speciation were included in the models: particle-bound mercury (PHg), gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) and gas oxidized mercury (RGM). Much of the Hg was released as RGM from coal combustion in China, accounting for 58.4 - 66.8% of total emissions. The large proportion of RGM in overall Hg emission also led to large Hg deposition. Based on simulations, Hg deposition originating from coal combustion reaches as high as 2 - 6 mu g m(-2) month(-1) in southwestern China (particularly Guizhou Province), the industrialized and populated regions of east central and coastal China, and Liaoning Province in the northeast.
Highlights
Human activity, including: the combustion of fossil fuels, incineration of waste, gold mining and other applications of Hg have significantly increased the emission of Hg into the atmosphere
It is likely that most deposited RGM comes directly from emissions. This means that the greater the proportion of RGM in total Hg emissions, the greater the ratio of Hg deposition to emissions is (Table 3)
We know that RGM is the main component in Hg emission from coal combustion and the dominant component in simulated Hg deposition
Summary
Human activity, including: the combustion of fossil fuels, incineration of waste, gold mining and other applications of Hg have significantly increased the emission of Hg into the atmosphere. Coal combustion is the major Hg sources from human activity (US EPA 1997; European Commission 2001), especially in China where coal is the main energy source accounting for 68% of energy production in 2003 (CESY 2005). Hg emitted from coal combustion is an important contributor to atmospheric mercury budgets and plays important role in the Hg cycle in China. Hg emitted from coal combustion mainly consists of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), gas oxidized mercury (RGM) and particle-bound mercury (PHg). We estimate Hg emission from coal combustion in China and calculate its deposition by CMAQ-Hg (Byun and Ching 1999; Bullock and Brehme 2002). Power plants are used to study their influence on Hg deposition
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