scholarly journals Trend and characteristics of atmospheric emissions of Hg, As, and Se from coal combustion in China, 1980–2007

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 11905-11919 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Z. Tian ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
Z. G. Xue ◽  
K. Cheng ◽  
Y. P. Qu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Emissions of hazardous trace elements in China are of great concern because of their negative impacts on local air quality as well as on regional environmental health and ecosystem risks. In this paper, the atmospheric emissions of mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and selenium (Se) from coal combustion in China for the period 1980–2007 are estimated on the basis of coal consumption data and emission factors, which are specified by different categories of combustion facilities, coal types, and the equipped air pollution control devices configuration (Dust collectors, FGD, etc.). Specifically, multi-year emission inventories of Hg, As, and Se from 30 provinces and 4 economic sectors (thermal power, industry, residential use, and others) are evaluated and analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the gridded distribution of provincial-based Hg, As, and Se emissions in 2005 at a resolution of 1° × 1° is also plotted. It shows that the calculated national total atmospheric emissions of Hg, As, and Se from coal combustion have rapidly increased from 73.59 t, 635.57 t, and 639.69 t in 1980 to 305.95 t, 2205.50 t, and 2352.97 t in 2007, at an annually averaged growth rate of 5.4%, 4.7%, and 4.9%, respectively. The industrial sector is the largest source for Hg, As, and Se, accounting for about 50.8%, 61.2%, and 56.2% of the national totals, respectively. The share of power plants is 43.3% for mercury, 24.9% for arsenic, and 33.4% for selenium, respectively. Also, it shows remarkably different regional contribution characteristics of these 3 types of trace elements, the top 5 provinces with the heaviest mercury emissions in 2007 are Shandong (34.40 t), Henan (33.63 t), Shanxi (21.14 t), Guizhou (19.48 t), and Hebei (19.35 t); the top 5 provinces with the heaviest arsenic emissions in 2007 are Shandong (219.24 t), Hunan (213.20 t), Jilin (141.21 t), Hebei (138.54 t), and Inner Mongolia (127.49 t); while the top 5 provinces with the heaviest selenium emissions in 2007 are Shandong (289.11 t), Henan (241.45 t), Jiangsu (175.44 t), Anhui (168.89 t), and Hubei (163.96 t). Between 2000 and 2007, provinces always rank at the top five largest Hg, As, and Se emission sources are: Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Jiangsu, most of which are located in the east and are traditional industry-based or economically energy intensive areas in China. Notably, Hg, As, and Se emissions from coal combustion in China begin to grow at a more moderate pace since 2005. Emissions from coal-fired power plants sector began to decrease though the coal use had been increasing steadily, which can be mainly attributed to the increasing use of wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) in power plants, thus the further research and control orientations of importance for these hazardous trace elements should be the industrial sector.

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 20729-20768 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Z. Tian ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
Z. G. Xue ◽  
K. Cheng ◽  
Y. P. Qu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Emissions of hazardous trace elements in China are of great concern because of their negative impacts on local air quality as well as on regional environmental health and ecosystem risks. In this paper, the atmospheric emissions of mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and selenium (Se) from coal combustion in China for the period 1980–2007 are estimated on the basis of coal consumption data and emission factors, which are specified by different categories of combustion facilities, coal types, and the equipped air pollution control devices configuration (Dust collectors, FGD, etc.). Specifically, multi-year emission inventories of Hg, As, and Se from 30 provinces and 4 economic sectors (thermal power, industry, residential use, and others) are evaluated and analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the gridded distribution of provincial-based Hg, As, and Se emissions in 2005 at a resolution of 1°×1° is also plotted. It shows that the calculated national total atmospheric emissions of Hg, As, and Se from coal combustion have rapidly increased from 73.59 t, 635.57 t, and 639.69 t in 1980 to 305.95 t, 2205.50 t, and 2352.97 t in 2007, at an annually averaged growth rate of 5.4%, 4.7%, and 4.9%, respectively. The industrial sector is the largest source for Hg, As, and Se, accounting for about 50.8%, 61.2%, and 56.2% of the national totals, respectively. The share of power plants is 43.3% for mercury, 24.9% for arsenic, and 33.4% for selenium, respectively. Also, it shows remarkably different regional contribution characteristics of these 3 types of trace elements, the top 5 provinces with the heaviest mercury emissions in 2007 are Shandong (34.40 t), Henan (33.63 t), Shanxi (21.14 t), Guizhou (19.48 t), and Hebei (19.35 t); the top 5 provinces with the heaviest arsenic emissions in 2007 are Shandong (219.24 t), Hunan (213.20 t), Jilin (141.21 t), Hebei (138.54 t), and Inner Mongolia (127.49 t); while the top 5 provinces with the heaviest selenium emissions in 2007 are Shandong (289.11 t), Henan (241.45 t), Jiangsu (175.44 t), Anhui (168.89 t), and Hubei (163.96 t). Between 2000 and 2007, provinces always rank at the top five largest Hg, As, and Se emission sources are: Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Jiangsu, most of which are located in the east and are traditional industry-based or economically energy intensive areas in China. Notably, Hg, As, and Se emissions from coal combustion in China begin to grow at a more moderate pace since 2005. Emissions from coal-fired power plants sector began to decrease though the coal use had been increasing steadily, which can be mainly attributed to the more and more installation of WFGD in power plants, thus the further research and control orientations of importance for these hazardous trace elements should be the industrial sector.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1267
Author(s):  
David Längauer ◽  
Vladimír Čablík ◽  
Slavomír Hredzák ◽  
Anton Zubrik ◽  
Marek Matik ◽  
...  

Large amounts of coal combustion products (as solid products of thermal power plants) with different chemical and physical properties cause serious environmental problems. Even though coal fly ash is a coal combustion product, it has a wide range of applications (e.g., in construction, metallurgy, chemical production, reclamation etc.). One of its potential uses is in zeolitization to obtain a higher added value of the product. The aim of this paper is to produce a material with sufficient textural properties used, for example, for environmental purposes (an adsorbent) and/or storage material. In practice, the coal fly ash (No. 1 and No. 2) from Czech power plants was firstly characterized in detail (X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), particle size measurement, and textural analysis), and then it was hydrothermally treated to synthetize zeolites. Different concentrations of NaOH, LiCl, Al2O3, and aqueous glass; different temperature effects (90–120 °C); and different process lengths (6–48 h) were studied. Furthermore, most of the experiments were supplemented with a crystallization phase that was run for 16 h at 50 °C. After qualitative product analysis (SEM-EDX, XRD, and textural analytics), quantitative XRD evaluation with an internal standard was used for zeolitization process evaluation. Sodalite (SOD), phillipsite (PHI), chabazite (CHA), faujasite-Na (FAU-Na), and faujasite-Ca (FAU-Ca) were obtained as the zeolite phases. The content of these zeolite phases ranged from 2.09 to 43.79%. The best conditions for the zeolite phase formation were as follows: 4 M NaOH, 4 mL 10% LiCl, liquid/solid ratio of 30:1, silica/alumina ratio change from 2:1 to 1:1, temperature of 120 °C, process time of 24 h, and a crystallization phase for 16 h at 50 °C.


2021 ◽  
Vol 323 ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Jadambaa Temuujin ◽  
Damdinsuren Munkhtuvshin ◽  
Claus H. Ruescher

With a geological reserve of over 170 billion tons, coal is the most abundant energy source in Mongolia with six operating thermal power stations. Moreover, in Ulaanbaatar city over 210000 families live in the Ger district and use over 800000 tons of coal as a fuel. The three thermal power plants in Ulaanbaatar burn about 5 million tons of coal, resulting in more than 500000 tons of coal combustion by-products per year. Globally, the ashes produced by thermal power plants, boilers, and single ovens pose serious environmental problems. The utilization of various types of waste is one of the factors determining the sustainability of cities. Therefore, the processing of wastes for re-use or disposal is a critical topic in waste management and materials research. According to research, the Mongolian capital city's air and soil quality has reached a disastrous level. The main reasons for air pollution in Ulaanbaatar are reported as being coal-fired stoves of the Ger residential district, thermal power stations, small and medium-sized low-pressure furnaces, and motor vehicles. Previously, coal ashes have been used to prepare advanced materials such as glass-ceramics with the hardness of 6.35 GPa, geopolymer concrete with compressive strength of over 30 MPa and zeolite A with a Cr (III) removal capacity of 35.8 mg/g. Here we discuss our latest results on the utilization of fly ash for preparation of a cement stabilized base layer for paved roads, mechanically activated fly ash for use in concrete production, and coal ash from the Ger district for preparation of an adsorbent. An addition of 20% fly ash to 5-8% cement made from a mixture of road base gave a compressive strength of ~ 4MPa, which exceeds the standard. Using coal ashes from Ger district prepared a new type of adsorbent material capable of removing various organic pollutants from tannery water was developed. This ash also showed weak leaching characteristics in water and acidic environment, which opens up an excellent opportunity to utilize.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvind R S ◽  
Prasanna Ram M ◽  
Prashanth T ◽  
Jaimon Dennis Quadros

Cenosphere fly ash is one of the most inexpensive and low-density material which is abundantly available as a solid waste by-product of coal combustion in thermal power plants. Aluminium metal matrix composites with Nickel coated cenospheres as the reinforcement is prepared by stir casting route. The composites are prepared with varying percentages of cenospheres in the percentage of 2-10% by weight of the composite. Immersion corrosion tests are conducted on the composites in three different medium and for three different time durations. It is evident from the test results as well as the microstructure images that the weight loss of samples with 8% Nickel coated cenospheres has shown least corrosion or the highest corrosion resistance when compared to the counterparts.


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