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Environmental policy and legal framework for controlling mercury emissions from stationary sources: a case study in Taiwan

  • SPECIAL FEATURE: REGIONAL CASE STUDY
  • Mercury cycles and their management
  • Published:
Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, the Taiwan government partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Global Mercury Partnership program to follow the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Due to the most important mercury (Hg) emissions from the stationary vent streams, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has promulgated the strict standards and limits for industrial facilities. In this work, the legal framework for Hg control will focus on the main generators, including coal-fired power plants, cement-manufacturing plants, metal-smelting plants, and waste incineration plants, under the Air Pollution Control Act and the Waste Management Act. Based on the official survey data, the updated analysis of inventory Hg emissions in Taiwan was performed to echo the sustainable material management of Hg-containing waste by the recovery methods, showing a downward trend in the Hg emissions during the period of 2016–2020. To reduce the discharge into the atmospheric environment, the multiple air pollution control devices for Hg emissions from the main stationary sources in Taiwan were also reviewed in this work. Some recommendations for controlling Hg emissions from the stationary sources were also addressed to provide for the policy makers, environmental engineers, and process manager.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included in the article. Besides, the datasets used and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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This research received no external funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Bioresources, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, 912, Taiwan

    Wen-Tien Tsai

  2. Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan

    Chi-Hung Tsai & Yun-Hwei Shen

Authors
  1. Wen-Tien Tsai
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  2. Chi-Hung Tsai
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  3. Yun-Hwei Shen
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Contributions

WTT initiated the work and drafted the manuscript. CHT analyzed the data. YHS reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wen-Tien Tsai.

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Tsai, WT., Tsai, CH. & Shen, YH. Environmental policy and legal framework for controlling mercury emissions from stationary sources: a case study in Taiwan. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 25, 2716–2725 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01665-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01665-0

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