Fate of Mercury Released from Power Plants

摘要

The goals of the project were to measure the quantity and form of mercury emitted from power plants in Maryland, estimate plume concentrations, and study the mercury in the plume. In addition, measurements of organic mercury in the vicinity of a power plant were to be conducted to investigate the potential mobilization of mercury released from the plants into the biosphere. The results of the measurements on fossil fuels showed that the average concentration of mercury in coal and oil burned in the state is 0.47 ppm and 20 ppb, respectively. The release of mercury from oil combustion in power plants is insignificant as compared to that released by coal combustion. The annual emission rates of mercury are approximately 3 tonnes for power plants, as compared with 1 ton from municipal incinerators, the next largest source in the metropolitan region. The results of the in-stack samples show that 98% of the mercury was in the gas phase which is in agreement with the studies done elsewhere.