Air-surface exchange of mercury with soils amended with ash materials

Journal Article · Sat Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464505· OSTI ID:20790937

Ericksen, Jody; Gustin, Mae Sexauer ^[1]

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

Air-surface exchange of mercury (Hg) was measured from soil low in Hg amended with four different ash materials: a wood ash containing {approximately} 10% coal ash, amixture of two subbituminous coal fly ashes, a subbituminous coal ash containing {approximately} 10% petroleum coke ash and an ash from incinerated municipal sewage sludge (4.3 mg/kg Hg) using a dynamic flux chamber. Ash was added to soil to simulate agricultural supplements, soil stabilization, and pad layers used in livestock areas. For the agricultural amendment, {approximately} 0.4% ash was well mixed into the soil. To make the stabilized soil that could be used for construction purposes, {approximately} 20% ash was mixed into soil with water. The pad layer consisted of a wetted 1-cm layer of ash material on the soil surface. Diel trends of Hg flux were observed for all of the substrates with significantly higher Hg emissions during the day and negligible flux or deposition of Hg during the night. Hg fluxes, which were measured in the summer months, were best correlated with solar radiation, temperature, and air O{sub 3} concentrations. Mean Hg fluxes measured outdoors for unamended soils ranged from 19 to 140 ng/m{sup 2} day, whereas those for soil amended with ash to simulate an agricultural application ranged from 7.2 to 230 ng/m{sup 2} day. Fluxes for soil stabilized with ash ranged from 77 to 530 ng/m{sup 2} day and for soil with pads constructed of ash ranged from -50 to 90 ng/m{sup 2} day. Simple analytical tests were performed to assess whether algorithms based on these tests could be used to predict Hg fluxes observed outdoors using the flux chamber. Based on this study, no consistent relationships could be developed. More work is needed to assess long-term and seasonal variations in Hg flux from substrates before annual estimates of emissions can be developed. 45 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 20790937
• Journal Information: Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Vol. 56, Issue 7; Other Information: [e-mail]; ISSN 1047-3289
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
02 PETROLEUM
09 BIOMASS FUELS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
MERCURY
SOILS
EMISSION
FLY ASH
SUBBITUMINOUS COAL
BY-PRODUCTS
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
LEACHING
STABILIZATION
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
HEATING
PYROLYSIS
WOOD
COAL
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
COKE
SEWAGE SLUDGE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION