The spatial and temporal characteristics of mercury emission from coal combustion in China during the year 2015

Özet

Hg emission inventory for the coal combustion sector in China during the year 2015 was established according tothe most recent emission activity data and emission factors from national official statistics and scientific research.Our results show that Hg emission from coal combustion in China in 2015 reached 264.49 tons, and theemission growth rate during the past 10 years began to slow down due to the extensive use of efficient airpollution control devices and the enhanced proportion of cleaned coal in large power plants. Therein, industrywas still the biggest emitter, and the Hg emissions of industry, the thermal power sector, the residential sectorand other uses were 154.59, 70.40, 15.67 and 23.83 tons respectively. The five largest Hg-emitting provinceswere Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi and Jiangsu, due to their great coal consumption. And fiveprovinces with the biggest per capita Hg emission were Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shanxi, Guizhou and Hebei.The monthly variation was analyzed according to the sector characteristic, and results indicate that the industrialsector's emission peak appeared in summer; the thermal power sector had two emission peaks, inJanuary and August; Hg emission from residential and other uses exhibited a weak U shape, and a high-emissionintensityregion was mainly concentrated in the east of China year-round.