Abstract
Environmental pollution caused by lead toxicity causes harm to human health. Lead pollution in the environment mainly comes from the processes of mining, processing, production, use, and recovery of lead. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of refined lead. In this paper, the material flow analysis method is used to analyze the flow and direction of lead loss in four stages of lead production, manufacturing, use, and waste management in China from 1949 to 2017. The proportion coefficient of lead compounds in each stage of lead loss was determined. The categories and quantities of lead compounds discharged in each stage were calculated. The results show that in 2017, China emitted 2.1519 million tons of lead compounds. In the four stages of production, manufacturing, use, and waste management, 137.9 kilo tons, 209 kilo tons, 275 kilo tons, and 1.53 million tons were respectively discharged. The emissions in the production stage are PbS, PbO, PbSO4, PbO2, Pb2O3, and more. The emissions during the manufacturing phase are Pb, PbO, PbSO4, Pb2O3, Pb3O4, and more. The main emissions are Pb, PbO, Pb2O3, Pb3O4, and more. The main emissions in the waste management stage are PbS, Pb, PbO, PbSO4, PbO2, PbCO3, Pb2O3, Pb3O4, and more. Among them, the emissions of PbSO4, PbO, Pb, and PbO2 account for about 90%, which are the main environmental pollution emissions. The waste management stage is an important control source of lead compound emission and pollution. In view of these characteristics of the environmental pollution risk of lead compounds in China, the government should issue more targeted policies to control lead pollution.
Highlights
Lead (Pb) is a naturally occurring element found in the earth’s crust with various uses, largely owing to its malleability and corrosion resistance
The refined lead produced from lead concentrate is called primary lead, and the refined lead produced from lead containing waste is called recycled lead
2.519 million tons of lead compounds were emitted to the environment, a 60% reduction compared with 5.478 million tons in 2010 [34]
Summary
Lead (Pb) is a naturally occurring element found in the earth’s crust with various uses, largely owing to its malleability and corrosion resistance. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 2184 process of production, consumption, social accumulation, and recycling of China’s aluminum metal through material flow analysis, providing support for the Chinese government to formulate resource policies [6]. Material flow analysis is a systematic evaluation tool which can characterize the flow and flow dynamic changes of lead and its compounds in life cycle This allows us to grasp the impact of lead on the environment in the whole life cycle and assess the health risk, and helps us to identify the direction of environmental management of urban lead and other hazardous products. It provides us with the means to decide on support for the sustainable development of urban health. This paper takes lead as the object, and calculates the lead logistics volume, flow direction, and loss in each stage (production, consumption, use, and recovery) of lead in China from 1949 to 2017 through the material flow analysis, and calculates the list of environmental emissions in 2017, which provides corresponding support for the objective analysis of lead environmental pollution risk and the government’s lead pollution control policy
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