Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources

N Pirrone,R B Finkelman,G B Stracher,D G Streets,X Feng,H R Friedli,A B Mukherjee,J Leaner,S Cinnirella,R Mason,K Telmer

doi:10.5194/acp-10-5951-2010

Abstract

Abstract. This paper provides an up-to-date assessment of global mercury emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources. On an annual basis, natural sources account for 5207 Mg of mercury released to the global atmosphere, including the contribution from re-emission processes, which are emissions of previously deposited mercury originating from anthropogenic and natural sources, and primary emissions from natural reservoirs. Anthropogenic sources, which include a large number of industrial point sources, are estimated to account for 2320 Mg of mercury emitted annually. The major contributions are from fossil-fuel fired power plants (810 Mg yr−1), artisanal small scale gold mining (400 Mg yr−1), non-ferrous metals manufacturing (310 Mg yr−1), cement production (236 Mg yr−1), waste disposal (187 Mg yr−1) and caustic soda production (163 Mg yr−1). Therefore, our current estimate of global mercury emissions suggests that the overall contribution from natural sources (primary emissions + re-emissions) and anthropogenic sources is nearly 7527 Mg per year, the uncertainty associated with these estimates are related to the typology of emission sources and source regions.

Highlights

Advances achieved during the last decade on mercury emissions from major man-made and natural sources have contributed to better constrain the assessment of the impact of atmospheric mercury deposition on terrestrial and aquatic environments (Pirrone et al, 2001a,c; Hedgecock et al, 2006; Dastoor and Davignon, 2009; Jaegleet al., 2009; Jung et al, 2009; Seigneur et al, 2009; Travnikov and Ilyin, 2009; Bullock and Jaegle, 2009).Policy makers have taken the advantage of improved information on emissions to assess the effectiveness of measures aimed to reduce the impact of this highly toxic contaminant on human health and ecosystems
Following the preparation of the EU Position Paper on Ambient Air Pollution by Mercury (Pirrone et al, 2001b) and the first assessment of mercury contamination on global scale (Global Mercury Assessment Report, GMA) (UNEP, 2002), the European Union adopted the European Mercury Strategy, which is aimed to phase out the use of mercury in goods and industrial applications and to reduce, to the extent possible, mercury emissions to the atmosphere from fossil-fuel power plants and industrial facilities
The evaluation of global emissions presented in this paper differs from previous published assessments because i) some new sources have been included in the estimate; ii) others have been updated, and iii) some regional estimates with reference to coal combustion have been improved (i.e China, India)

Summary

Introduction

Advances achieved during the last decade on mercury emissions from major man-made and natural sources have contributed to better constrain the assessment of the impact of atmospheric mercury deposition on terrestrial and aquatic environments (Pirrone et al, 2001a,c; Hedgecock et al, 2006; Dastoor and Davignon, 2009; Jaegleet al., 2009; Jung et al, 2009; Seigneur et al, 2009; Travnikov and Ilyin, 2009; Bullock and Jaegle, 2009). Following the preparation of the EU Position Paper on Ambient Air Pollution by Mercury (Pirrone et al, 2001b) and the first assessment of mercury contamination on global scale (Global Mercury Assessment Report, GMA) (UNEP, 2002), the European Union adopted the European Mercury Strategy, which is aimed to phase out the use of mercury in goods and industrial applications and to reduce, to the extent possible, mercury emissions to the atmosphere from fossil-fuel power plants and industrial facilities. Earlier studies of global mercury emissions were aimed primarily to assess the contributions from anthropogenic sources (Nriagu and Pacyna, 1988; Pirrone et al, 1996, 1998; Pacyna et al, 2003, 2006), from coal, oil and wood combustion as well as from solid waste incineration and pyrometallurgical processes. The evaluation of global emissions presented in this paper differs from previous published assessments because i) some new sources have been included in the estimate (e.g. vinyl chloride monomer production, coal-bed fires); ii) others have been updated (e.g. biomass burning, cement production), and iii) some regional estimates with reference to coal combustion have been improved (i.e China, India)

Mercury emissions from natural sources

Mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources

Findings

Further research