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Characteristics of Speciated Mercury Emissions from Coal Combustion in Air and Oxygen-Enriched Environment

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Abstract

Coal combustion is a dominant source of Hg in atmosphere and is believed to be responsible for increases of atmospheric Hg since industrial revolution. In this study, we compared characteristics of different Hg species emitted from combustion of different types of coal in air and oxygen-enriched environment. Total Hg emissions from coal combustion increased significantly with increase of combustion temperature and the majority of emitted Hg existed in the form of Hg0. Total Hg emissions were 8.61 (5.38–16.48) ng/g (average and range) at 500 °C, while increased to 18.65 (6.49–40.38) ng/g at 900 °C. After burning at high temperatures, the higher percentage of reactive Hg species was observed in the flue gases, which was probably caused by promotion of Hg0 oxidation due to the higher flue gas temperature. Compared with air environment, more Hg (3.00–17.96 ng/g higher than air at 900 °C) was remained in ashes, and the percentage of reactive Hg in flue gases increased by 193%–826% at 900 °C under O2/CO2, which is beneficial for reduction of Hg emissions from coal combustion.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41630748, 41501517 and 41671492) and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant #16JCQNJC08300).

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Author notes

  1. Yingli Sun and Guangkuo Lv have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Yingli Sun & Xuejun Wang

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Guangkuo Lv, Hefeng Zhang, Xiaoge Bu & Yindong Tong

  3. Center for Rural Environmental Protection, Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing,, 100012, China

    Xiaoqian Zhang

  4. School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China

    Wei Zhang

Authors
  1. Yingli Sun
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  2. Guangkuo Lv
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  3. Hefeng Zhang
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  4. Xiaoqian Zhang
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  5. Xiaoge Bu
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  6. Xuejun Wang
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  7. Wei Zhang
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  8. Yindong Tong
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Correspondence to Yindong Tong.

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Sun, Y., Lv, G., Zhang, H. et al. Characteristics of Speciated Mercury Emissions from Coal Combustion in Air and Oxygen-Enriched Environment. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 102, 695–700 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02626-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02626-w

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