Air-substrate mercury exchange associated with landfill disposal of coal combustion products

Journal Article · Tue Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464543· OSTI ID:20790716

Xin, Mei; Gustin, Mae S; Ladwig, Kenneth; Pflughoeft-Hassett, Debra F ^[1]

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1. University of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science

Previous laboratory studies have shown that lignite-derived fly ash emitted mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere, whereas bituminous- and subbituminous-derived fly ash samples adsorbed Hg from the air. In addition, wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) materials were found to have higher Hg emission rates than fly ash. This study investigated in situ Hg emissions at a blended bituminous-subbituminous ash land-fill in the Great Lakes area and a lignite-derived ash and FGD solids landfill in the Midwestern United States using a dynamic field chamber. Fly ash and saturated FGD materials emitted Hg to atmosphere at low rates (- 0.1 to 1.2 ng/m{sup 2}hr), whereas FGD material mixed with fly ash and pyrite exhibited higher emission rates ({approximately} 10 ng/m{sup 2}hr) but were still comparable with natural background soils (- 0.3 to 13 ng/m{sup 2}hr). Air temperature, solar radiation, and relative humidity were important factors correlated with measured Hg fluxes. Field study results were not consistent with corresponding laboratory observations in that fluxes measured in the latter were higher and more variable. This is hypothesized to be partially an artifact of the flux measurement methods. 19 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 20790716
• Journal Information: Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Vol. 56, Issue 8; Other Information: [e-mail]; ISSN 1047-3289
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
MERCURY
COAL
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
SANITARY LANDFILLS
WASTE DISPOSAL
EMISSION
BITUMINOUS COAL
SUBBITUMINOUS COAL
ASHES
GREAT LAKES
LIGNITE
FLUE GAS
DESULFURIZATION
GYPSUM
FLY ASH
PYRITE
FIELD TESTS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
HUMIDITY
USA