Large Industrial Point Sources in Italy: a focus on mercury concentrations resulting from three seasonal ship-borne measurements

Abstract

In Italy there are 25 Large Industrial Point Sources whose mercury emissions in air exceed the established threshold of 10 kg year -1 . Many of these mercury point sources, mostly distributed along the Italian coastal area, are located at sites qualified as National Interest Rehabilitation Sites because of documented contamination in qualitative and/or quantitative terms and of potential health impact. Atmospheric mercury emissions related to Italian Large Industrial Point Sources, with a value of 1.04 Mg·yr -1 for 2007, have a not negligible contribution, accounting, on their own, for more than 10% of the total mercury emissions resulting from all activity sectors at a national level. Among others, thermal power stations, pig iron and steel as well as basic inorganic chemical production, result to be the main contributing industrial activities. In order to assess how mercury species concentrations and distribution in the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) change with vicinity to large industrial sites, measurements of atmospheric mercury were performed during three oceanographic campaigns aboard the Research Vessel (R.V.) Urania of the Italian CNR. Collection of GEM, GOM and PBM was conducted across the Adriatic sea, during autumn 2004 (27 th of October to 12 th of November) and summer 2005 (17 th to 29 th of June), and across the Tyrrhenian sea during autumn 2007 (12 th of September to 1 st October). Analysis were carried out with reference to the period in which the R.V. Urania has stopped close to the main Italian industrial contaminated sites. Explorative statistical parameters of atmospheric mercury species were computed over each single stop-period and then compared with the overall cruise campaign measurements. Results are herein presented and discussed.