Estimation of Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants in China - Mercury Emission and its Control in Chinese Coal-Fired Power Plants - page 23

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

1900 1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

Fig. 3.2 Mercury emissions into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants in China from 1990
to 2005

70

60

Mercury emission
Coal consumption

50

40

30

20

10

0

1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

Fig. 3.3 Growth rate of coal consumption and mercury emissions of coal-fired power plants in
China from 1990 to 2005

Table 3.2 compares the mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in
China, which was estimated by this study and other researchers. Mercury emissions
in 1995, as estimated by this study, are closer to that estimated by Wang et al . [1] .
However, estimation of mercury emissions in 1999, as reported by Streets et al . [2] ,
was less than that recorded in the present work. Furthermore, Streets et al . [2] de-
termined the EMF of ESP as 0.694, which was less than the value of 0.867 calcu-
lated in the current work. The estimated mercury concentration in coal of only 0.15
mg/kg in 2000, as reported by Jiang et al . [3] , was also less than that recorded in the
present study.
In 1999, the U.S. EPA estimated that 43 tons of mercury was emitted from 1149
units at 464 coal-fired power plants in the US. In that report, it was estimated that
the amount of mercury emissions would reach 60 tons by 2010. Mercury emissions
of coal-fired power plants in China nearly doubled those of the U.S in 1999, even
exceeding those recorded in the U.S. in 2010.