Mercury Flows in China and Global Drivers.

Mercury (Hg) pollution control has become an urgent need at global and national scales. This study, for the first time, comprehensively examines Hg flows in Mainland China and uncovers domestic and external causal drivers of China's Hg emissions/releases. Results show that China's Hg input reaches 2643 t in 2010. China discharges 1368 t of Hg to the environment (to air, 633 t; water, 84 t; and land, 651 t). Embedded Hg transfers across production sectors via waste/byproduct flows reduce Hg releases to land, but lead to secondary Hg emissions to air. Such revelations of embedded Hg transfers adjusts China's comprehensive Hg control that would otherwise only tackle primary emitters. Domestic consumption causes 67% of China's Hg emissions/releases, and external consumption induces the remaining 33%. Besides traditional production-side Hg control measures, demand-side measures and international joint efforts are required to effectively combat Hg pollution. Uncovering embedded and embodied Hg flows within the global economy can assist a paradigm shift necessary to make real progress in global Hg control and the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Flow Analysis of the Mercury Associated with Nonferrous Ore Concentrates: Implications on Mercury Emissions and Recovery in China.

This study investigated the flow of mercury (Hg) associated with zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and copper (Cu) concentrates and provided new insights on the Hg emissions and recovery in both metals-production and wastes-disposal processes in China. Total Hg input from concentrates consumed in China reached 1005.4 t, of which 31.7% was dumped as discarded slags and 2.3% was stabilized (permanent storage). Approximately 202.1 t of Hg was directly emitted to air, water, and soil. More specifically, metals production processes emitted 100.4 t Hg to air. Wastes disposal processes contributed to an additional 47.8 t of atmospheric Hg emissions (which were ignored in most emission inventories) and 32.7 and 21.3 t of Hg to water and soil, respectively. At the same time, out of the 62.6 t of recovered Hg, 95.2% was reclaimed from acid slags. Interim storage of 398.9 t of Hg also highlights the significance of acid slags as potential Hg recovery sources due to the global ban on primary Hg production. The uncertainty ranges (confidence interval: 10%-90%) for Hg emissions to air, water, and soil and for Hg recovery were (-75%, 89%), (-96%, + 111%), (-120%, + 149%), and (-78%, 92%), respectively.

New insight into atmospheric mercury emissions from zinc smelters using mass flow analysis.

The mercury (Hg) flow paths from three zinc (Zn) smelters indicated that a large quantity of Hg, approximately 38.0-57.0% of the total Hg input, was stored as acid slag in the landfill sites. Approximately 15.0-27.1% of the Hg input was emitted into water or stored as open-dumped slags, and 3.3-14.5% of the Hg input ended in sulfuric acid. Atmospheric Hg emissions, accounting for 1.4-9.6% of the total Hg input, were from both the Zn production and waste disposal processes. Atmospheric Hg emissions from the waste disposal processes accounted for 40.6, 89.6, and 94.6% of the total atmospheric Hg emissions of the three studied smelters, respectively. The Zn production process mainly contributed to oxidized Hg (Hg2+) emissions, whereas the waste disposal process generated mostly elemental Hg (Hg0) emissions. When the emissions from these two processes are considered together, the emission proportion of the Hg2+ mass was 51, 46, and 29% in smelters A, B, and C, respectively. These results indicated that approximately 10.8±5.8 t of atmospheric Hg emissions from the waste disposal process were ignored in recent inventories. Therefore, the total atmospheric Hg emissions from the Zn industry of China should be approximately 50 t.