scholarly journals Mercury emissions from South Africa’s coal-fired power stations

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.L. Garnham ◽  
K.E. Langerman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Emission Control ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Control Technology ◽  
Power Station ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Emission Abatement ◽  
Power Stations

Mercury is a persistent and toxic substance that can be bio-accumulated in the food chain. Natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to the mercury emitted in the atmosphere. Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in South Africa contributed just under 93% of the total electricity produced in 2015 (Eskom 2016). Trace amounts of mercury can be found in coal, mostly combined with sulphur, and can be released into the atmosphere upon combustion. Coal-fired electricity generation plants are the highest contributors to mercury emissions in South Africa. A major factor affecting the amount of mercury emitted into the atmosphere is the type and efficiency of emission abatement equipment at a power station. Eskom employs particulate emission control technology at all its coal-fired power stations, and new power stations will also have sulphur dioxide abatement technology. A co-beneficial reduction of mercury emissions exists as a result of emission control technology. The amount of mercury emitted from each of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations is calculated, based on the amount of coal burnt and the mercury content in the coal. Emission Reduction Factors (ERF’s) from two sources are taken into consideration to reflect the co-benefit received from the emission control technologies at the stations. Between 17 and 23 tons of mercury is calculated to have been emitted from Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in 2015. On completion of Eskom’s emission reduction plan, which includes fabric filter plant retrofits at two and a half stations and a flue gas desulphurisation retrofit at one power station, total mercury emissions from the fleet will potentially be reduced by 6-13% by 2026 relative to the baseline. Mercury emission reduction is perhaps currently not the most pressing air quality problem in South Africa. While the focus should then be on reducing emissions of other pollutants which have a greater impact on human health, mercury emission reduction can be achieved as a co-benefit of installing other emission abatement technologies. At the very least, more accurate calculations of mercury emissions per power station should be obtained by measuring the mercury content of more recent coal samples, and developing power station-specific ERF’s before mercury emission regulations are established or an investment into targeted mercury emission reduction technology is made.

Preliminary estimates of performance and cost of mercury emission control technology applications on electric utility boilers: An update

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.K. Srivastava ◽  
James E. Staudt ◽  
Wojciech Jozewicz
Keyword(s):  
Emission Control ◽  
Electric Utility ◽  
Control Technology ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Utility Boilers ◽  
Technology Applications

scholarly journals Developing an ANFIS-PSO Model to Predict Mercury Emissions in Combustion Flue Gases

Mathematics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahaboddin Shamshirband ◽  
Masoud Hadipoor ◽  
Alireza Baghban ◽  
Amir Mosavi ◽  
Jozsef Bukor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Pollution Assessment ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Predicted Values ◽  
Relative Errors

Accurate prediction of mercury content emitted from fossil-fueled power stations is of the utmost importance for environmental pollution assessment and hazard mitigation. In this paper, mercury content in the output gas of power stations’ boilers was predicted using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) method integrated with particle swarm optimization (PSO). The input parameters of the model included coal characteristics and the operational parameters of the boilers. The dataset was collected from 82 sample points in power plants and employed to educate and examine the proposed model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed hybrid model of the ANFIS-PSO, the statistical meter of MARE% was implemented, which resulted in 0.003266 and 0.013272 for training and testing, respectively. Furthermore, relative errors between the acquired data and predicted values were between −0.25% and 0.1%, which confirm the accuracy of the model to deal non-linearity and represent the dependency of flue gas mercury content into the specifications of coal and the boiler type.

scholarly journals Database for content of mercury in Polish brown coal

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 01017
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Jastrząb
Keyword(s):  
Brown Coal ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Combustion Heat ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
National Centre ◽  
Business Entities ◽  
Set Up

Poland is rated among the countries with largest level of mercury emission in Europe. According to information provided by the National Centre for Balancing and Management of Emissions (KOBiZE) more than 10.5 tons of mercury and its compounds were emitted into the atmosphere in 2015 from the area of Poland. Within the scope of the BazaHg project lasting from 2014 to 2015 and co-financed from the National Centre of Research and Development (NCBiR) a database was set up with specification of mercury content in Polish hard steam coal, coking coal and brown coal (lignite) grades. With regard to domestic brown coal the database comprises information on coal grades from Brown Coal Mines of ‘Bełchatów’, ‘Adamów’, ‘Turów’ and ‘Sieniawa’. Currently the database contains 130 records with parameters of brown coal, where each record stands for technical analysis (content of moisture, ash and volatile particles), elemental analysis (CHNS), content of chlorine and mercury as well as net calorific value and combustion heat. Content of mercury in samples of brown coal grades under test ranged from 44 to 985 μg of Hg/kg with the average level of 345 μg of Hg/kg. The established database makes up a reliable and trustworthy source of information about content of mercury in Polish fossils. The foregoing details completed with information about consumption of coal by individual electric power stations and multiplied by appropriate emission coefficients may serve as the background to establish loads of mercury emitted into atmosphere from individual stations and by the entire sector of power engineering in total. It will also enable Polish central organizations and individual business entities to implement reasonable policy with respect of mercury emission into atmosphere.

Estimate of Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Station in China during the "Twelfth Five-Year"

2013 ◽  
Vol 807-809 ◽  
pp. 77-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zhao ◽  
Fang Ming Xue ◽  
Han Wang ◽  
Si Qi Hao ◽  
Yuan Shao
Keyword(s):  
Waste Water ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Power Station ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Input And Output

The input and output amount of the total mercury in coal-fired power stations was calculated in the year of 2010 and 2015. By 2015 the emissions of mercury discharged from coal-fired power plant to the atmosphere will reduce, the mercury contented in the solid waste will increase, and the amount of mercury in the waste water will be flat compared with the year of 2010.

Test and Research for Mercury Emission of Boilers in 700 MW Units

2014 ◽  
Vol 672-674 ◽  
pp. 1514-1518
Author(s):  
Fa Sheng Liu ◽  
Yong Lu Zhong ◽  
Rui Xu ◽  
Lin Guo Chen ◽  
Yong Jun Xia
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Flue Gas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Jiangxi Province ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Before And After

In this paper, the conversion process and the existing forms of mercury in the course of coal firing are first analyzed, and different methods to measure mercury are introduced; To assess the mercury emission levels of boilers in large power plants, through testing the mercury content in combustion products of the boiler in 700 MW unit under different loads in one power plant of Jiangxi Province, we analyzed the formation distribution of mercury emissions and the effect of low temperature economizer on the mercury concentration before and after the ESP, and acquired the mercury emission characteristics of 700 MW boiler. In study, we found that mercury in the coal burnt in 700 MW boiler was mainly discharged in the form of gas, with a small amount existing in burnt solids. The change of gaseous mercury before and after the ESP is not obvious, but the concentration of bivalent mercury is higher than that of zero-valent mercury; and more than 90% of the particulate mercury is removed. The low temperature economizer in operation can obviously reduce the concentration of mercury in flue gas at the ESP outlet by 30.8%.

scholarly journals Uncertainties in estimating mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 23565-23588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wu ◽  
D. G. Streets ◽  
S. X. Wang ◽  
J. M. Hao
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Mercury Removal ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Uncertainty Range ◽  
Best Estimate

Abstract. A detailed multiple-year inventory of mercury emissions from anthropogenic activities in China has been developed. Coal combustion and nonferrous metals production continue to be the two leading mercury sources in China, together contributing ~80% of total mercury emissions. Within our inventory, a new comprehensive sub-module for estimation of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China is constructed for uncertainty case-study. The new sub-module integrates up-to-date information regarding mercury content in coal by province, coal washing and cleaning, coal consumption by province, mercury removal efficiencies by control technology or technology combinations, etc. Based on these detailed data, probability-based distribution functions are built into the sub-module to address the uncertainties of these key parameters. The sub-module incorporates Monte Carlo simulations to take into account the probability distributions of key input parameters and produce the mercury emission results in the form of a statistical distribution. For example, the best estimate for total mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China in 2003 is 90.5 Mg, with the uncertainty range from 57.1 Mg (P10) to 154.6 Mg (P90); and the best estimate for elemental mercury emissions is 43.0 Mg, with the uncertainty range from 25.6 Mg (P10) to 75.7 Mg (P90). The results further indicate that the majority of the uncertainty in mercury emission estimation comes from two factors: mercury content in coal and mercury removal efficiency.

scholarly journals Developing ANFIS-PSO Model to Predict Mercury Emissions in Combustion Flue Gases

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahab Shamshirband ◽  
Masoud Hadipoor ◽  
Alireza Baghban ◽  
Amir Mosavi ◽  
Jozsef Bukor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Pollution Assessment ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Predicted Values ◽  
Relative Errors

Accurate prediction of mercury content emitted from fossil-fueled power stations is of utmost importance for environmental pollution assessment and hazard mitigation. In this paper, mercury content in the output gas of power stations’ boilers was predicted using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) method integrated with particle swarm optimization (PSO). The input parameters of the model include coal characteristics and the operational parameters of the boilers. The dataset has been collected from 82 power plants and employed to educate and examine the proposed model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed hybrid model of ANFIS-PSO model, the statistical meter of MARE% was implemented, which resulted in 0.003266 and 0.013272 for training and testing, respectively. Furthermore, relative errors between acquired data and predicted values were between -0.25% and 0.1%, which confirm the accuracy of the model to deal nonlinearity and representing the dependency of flue gas mercury content into the specifications of coal and the boiler type.

The Mercury Emission of Flue Gas from Cement Kiln Control Technology Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 737 ◽  
pp. 612-615
Author(s):  
Jie Miao ◽  
Feng Qian ◽  
Liang Guo ◽  
Fan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Flue Gas ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cement Kiln ◽  
Control Technology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Mercury Control

Mercury emissions from cement plants has attracted the attention of the world, the United States and the European Union and other developed countries have already made strictly limitations of mercury emission from cement plants,China has also been developed to limitation of mercury emission from cement plants. Mercury of cement plants comes mainly from coal and raw materials.,and mercury from flue gas can be removed by removal equipment, so you can use mercury control technology to remove mercury in flue gas. Depending on the different size and raw materials, of the plants, and mercury emissions under different conditions is not the same, so there is no mature mercury removal technology can be applied directly.1 Overview

scholarly journals Uncertainties in estimating mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 2937-2946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wu ◽  
D. G. Streets ◽  
S. X. Wang ◽  
J. M. Hao
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Mercury Content ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Stochastic Simulations ◽  
Mercury Removal ◽  
Mercury Emission ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Uncertainty Range ◽  
Best Estimate

Abstract. A detailed multiple-year inventory of mercury emissions from anthropogenic activities in China has been developed. Coal combustion and nonferrous metals production continue to be the two leading mercury sources in China, together contributing ~80% of total mercury emissions. However, many uncertainties still remain in our knowledge of primary anthropogenic releases of mercury to the atmosphere in China. In situations involving large uncertainties, our previous mercury emission inventory that used a deterministic approach could produce results that might not be a true reflection of reality; and in such cases stochastic simulations incorporating uncertainties need to be performed. Within our inventory, a new comprehensive sub-module for estimation of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China is constructed as an uncertainty case study. The new sub-module integrates up-to-date information regarding mercury content in coal by province, coal washing and cleaning, coal consumption by province, mercury removal efficiencies by control technology or technology combinations, etc. Based on these detailed data, probability-based distribution functions are built into the sub-module to address the uncertainties of these key parameters. The sub-module incorporates Monte Carlo simulations to take into account the probability distributions of key input parameters and produce the mercury emission results in the form of a statistical distribution. For example, the best estimate for total mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China in 2003 is 90.5 Mg, with the uncertainty range from 57.1 Mg (P10) to 154.6 Mg (P90); and the best estimate for elemental mercury emissions is 43.0 Mg, with the uncertainty range from 25.6 Mg (P10) to 75.7 Mg (P90). The results further indicate that the majority of the uncertainty in mercury emission estimation comes from two factors: mercury content of coal and mercury removal efficiency.

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