Fate of mercury released from power plants. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5834703

Zoller, W H; Barley, G K; Germani, M S; Ballantine, D S

The goals of the project were to measure the quantity and form of mercury emitted from power plants in Maryland, estimate plume concentrations, and study the mercury in the plume. In addition, measurements of organic mercury in the vicinity of a power plant were to be conducted to investigate the potential mobilization of mercury released from the plants into the biosphere. The results of the measurements on fossil fuels showed that the average concentration of mercury in coal and oil burned in the state is 0.47 ppm and 20 ppb, respectively. The release of mercury from oil combustion in power plants is insignificant as compared to that released by coal combustion. The annual emission rates of mercury are approximately 3 tonnes for power plants, as compared with 1 ton from municipal incinerators, the next largest source in the metropolitan region. The results of the in-stack samples show that 98% of the mercury was in the gas phase which is in agreement with the studies done elsewhere.

• Research Organization: Maryland Univ., College Park (USA). Dept. of Chemistry
• OSTI ID: 5834703
• Report Number(s): PB-86-158854/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION III
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
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GASES
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MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MERCURY
METALS
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PLUMES
POWER PLANTS
REMOVAL
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
USA
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