Mass balance and behavior of mercury in oil refinery facilities

Özet

This study aims to provide the mass balance of mercury and an assessment of anthropogenic mercury release intothe air, water, wastes, and products from two oil refinery plants in Korea. The mercury concentrations in inputstreams (crude oil and condensates) and output streams (petroleum products and by-products, such asfly ash,sludge and waste water, andflue gas) were measured at two representative oil refineries. After normalizing themeasured data at low recovery rates, facility A was found to release the most mercury through products, sludge,and air at 77.9%, 8.3%, and 8% respectively, and facility B released the most mercury through products, sludge,and air at 44.8%, 37.6%, and 11.1% respectively. The average national emission factor of mercury into the airfrom oil refineries was estimated at 0.12 mg-Hg ton−1input product. The average mass distribution factors ofmercury by oil refinery processes into petroleum products, by-products, and the air was 61.35%, 29.08%, and9.56%, respectively.