Trends of Mercury Flow over the US with Emphasis on Florida

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Trends of Mercury Flow over the USwith Emphasis
on Florida

• Progress Report by
• Janja Husar and Rudolf Husar
• Submitted to
• Thomas Atkeson, Florida DEP
• May 2001

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Background

• Goal
• Develop a trend database for mercury flow over
  the US. Special emphasis on mercury flow through
  fuels, time epoch 1980-2000 and the geographic
  region of Florida.
• Approach
• Materials flow methodology. Mercury budgeting
  from the production (mining) through processing,
  consumption to the disposal in air, land and
  water.

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Review, Summary and Evaluation of Recent
Literature
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Trend of the US Apparent Mercury Supply,
1970-1998

• Apparent supply is primary and secondary
  production net imports gov. stockpile
  releases
• From 1970 to 1986, the main contributors were
  primary mine production and imports
• During 1986-92, there was a rapid decrease of
  apparent Hg supply caused by reductions in
  batteries, paint and fungicide
• From 1993 on, there was no primary mine
  production, expanded secondary production
  (recycling) and stock changes
• Given the 1998, consumption of 417 Mg/yr, the US
  has a 27 year stockpile of mercury.

Sznopek and Goonan, 2000
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Domestic Flow of Mercury, 1996
Sznopek and Goonan, 2000
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Mercury in consumer goods and mined coal

• 1940-1970 mercury in industrial goods was not
  well categorized (lumped into other category).
• 1970-1990 electrical and electronic instruments
  category (including batteries) was the dominant
  Hg industrial consumer.
• Hg consumption for industrial goods was reduced
  from around 2000 Mg/yr in 1990 to about 500 Mg/yr
  in 1995.

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Mercury in US consumer goods and coal in 1990s

• Chlor-alkali and electrical and electronic
  instruments are still dominant users of mercury.
• Coal mined and consumed in US contributes about
  140 Mg/yr

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Atmospheric Emissions of Mercury
EPA Mercury Study Report to Congress, 1997

• According to the EPA Report to Congress,
  atmospheric emissions of mercury are dominated by
  coal and oil combustion (53)

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Mercury Flow through Coal over the US

• Introduction
• Approach

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US Coal Production by Region

• Coal production in the US occurred over five
  major producing regions.
• The coal production over the eastern US has
  remained roughly constant throughout the century.
• The sharp increase since the 1980s is due to the
  addition of western coal.

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Mercury Content of US Coals
Regional Hg content Appalachian 0.20
ppm Eastern Interior 0.09 ppm Gulf Coast
0.24 ppm Rocky Mountains 0.11 ppm Great
Plains 0.12 ppm

• Each coal producing region has a well defined
  range of coal mercury content.
• Evidently the pattern of coal mercury content is
  highly variable.
• USGS has an extensive database of coal mercury
  content covering most of the regions.

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Mercury Mobilization by Coal Producing Region
Average Hg in US Coal, ppm

• The mercury mobilization follows the pattern of
  national coal production.
• Since the beginning of the century there was a
  slight decline (from 0.18 to 0.14 ppm) of average
  coal mercury concentration due to shifts in
  regional production.
• There was a sharp rise since the 1980s. In 1995
  the mercury mobilization by coal was 144 Mg/yr.
• This constitutes an upper bound on coal mercury
  emissions to the atmosphere.

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Scrapbook Ideasunfinished pieces
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Explaining Environmental Change
The basic elements of life including carbon,
nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium are in constant
circulation between the earths major
environmental compartments atmosphere,
hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. These
earths compartments remain in balance as long as
the rate of flow of matter and energy in and out
of the compartments is unchanged. Changes in the
environmental compartments will occur if the
circulation (in and out flow) of the substances
is perturbed. For example, the concentration of
CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing because
the rate of input into the atmosphere is larger
than the rate of output.
Trace metals, unlike C, N, P and Ca, have a slow
and sluggish cycle through the four environmental
compartments. Lead, mercury and other metals
tend to accumulate in the lithosphere or parts
parts of the biosphere. For example, it is said
that once deposited, lead stays in the soil for
400 years.
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Sulfur Flow Diagram (Tentative)
Minerals Flow for Goods Metals, Frasch, Pyrites
Exp/Imp Raw
Exp/Imp Proc
Mineral Mining
Production
Consumption
S as Pollution
S as Goods
Exp/Imp Air
Ex/Im Water
Air
Land
Water
Fuel Mining
Refining
Combustion
Fuels Flow for Energy Coal, Oil, Gas
Ex/Im Raw
Ex/Im Processed
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US Industrial Sulfur Supply and Demand Trend
US S Supply
US S Budget
US S Demand
Exp/Imp
S Stocks
Source http//minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/of01
-006/sulfur.xls
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Total S Mobilized and Recovered
Mobilized in Minerals
Mobilized in Fuels
Recovered from Fuels Min.