Global Sources of Mercury Pollution: what they are and what we can do

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Global Sources of Mercury Pollution what they
are and what we can do

• Marianne Bailey
• Office of International Affairs
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• May 2007

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Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, using
J. Pacyna 2000 data.
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Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury
Distribution by Region in 1990 and 2000
2000
Total 1,881 metric tons/yr
Total 2,269 metric tons/yr
Asia and Africa account for about 70 of global
emissions and show steady, significant increases
due to industrialization.
Based on Pacyna, J., Munthe J., Presentation at
Workshop on Mercury Brussels, March 29-30, 2004
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Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury
Distribution by Industrial Sector in 1995

• Coal and fuel combustion is the largest source
  category
• Estimates are rough most countries do not have
  Hg inventories
• We need to further develop reliable emissions
  inventories

Non-ferrous metal production 170 (7)
Pig iron and steel production 30 (1)
Cement production 130 (5)
Waste disposal 110 (5)
Coal/Fuel combustion 1470 (62)
Artisanal gold mining 300 (13)
Chlor-alkali 172 (7)
Total 2,382 metric tons
Source UNEP Global Mercury Assessment, UNEP,
Geneva, December 2002
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Global Emissions Impact Imported and Domestic
Fish
Percent of total imports
North America import flows
Notes Average import flows for 1998-2000.
Source FAO State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture, 2002

• Commercial marine fish consumption major dietary
  source of Hg exposure in the U.S.
• Global reductions in mercury emissions will lower
  mercury levels in all wild fish sources

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Movement and Trends (contd)
Commodity Mercury Shipments Among Global Regions
(2004)
Summary of Supply, Trade, and Demand Information
on Mercury (November 2006), available at
http//www.chem.unep.ch/MERCURY/Trade20report20f
inal20PDF.pdf, p. 13.
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UNEP Governing Council Decisions

• February 2003 established UNEP Global Mercury
  Program after accepting the findings of the
  Global Mercury Assessment mercury is a global
  problem
• February 2005 established partnerships as one
  mechanism to address global mercury reductions
• February 2007 affirmed that partnerships are
  important but need to be strengthened
• UNEP to develop an overarching framework for the
  partnerships, including goals, business plans,
  operational guidelines
• UNEP called upon to develop new partnership
  areas
• vinyl chloride, non-ferrous metals, and
  incineration

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Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury
Distribution by Industrial Sector in 1995
Non-ferrous metal production 170 (7)
Current Partnerships Coal Combustion Artisanal
Gold Mining Chlor-alkali Artisanal Gold
Mining Air FT Research
Pig iron and steel production 30 (1)
Cement production 130 (5)
Waste disposal 110 (5)
Coal/Fuel combustion 1470 (62)

• www.chem.unep.ch/mercury/partnerships

Artisanal gold mining 300 (13)
Chlor-alkali 172 (7)
Total 2,382 metric tons
Source UNEP Global Mercury Assessment, UNEP,
Geneva, December 2002
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Global Partnership for Mercury Management in
Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining
About 10-15 million miners in over 50 countries
worldwide using mercury amalgamation, directly
affecting at least 50 million people. Air
emissions at least 300 tons per year, consumption
about 1000 tons per year.

• Goals
• Deploy improved management techniques and improve
  access to best practice information targeted
  toward community-based organizations
• Support and expand existing efforts in this
  sector, in particular the UNIDO Global Mercury
  Program

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Global Partnership for Mercury Management in
Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining

• Early consultative meeting at World Bank in
  Washington, D.C. (June 2005)
• Initiated demonstration project and field
  training on retort use in Senegal
• Initiated project to reduce emissions and
  exposure at gold refining shops in the Brazilian
  Amazon
• Discussions with Mongolian government and NGOs
• CASM web page development

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Sediments are processed with Hg
Hg-Au amalgam (50 mercury)
Burned in the Garimpo
Hg-Au amalgam (5-15 mercury)
Burned in the Gold Shop
Purified gold
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Hg-Au amalgam (5-15 mercury)
Mercury vapor vented directly to street
Burned in the Gold Shop
Purified gold
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Prototype Description
Exhaust to stack
Inlet from fume hood
1.2 M
Fan
1.2 M
.7 M
Pebble bed (stone not shown)
US1000
MIT Gold Shop Mercury Collection Equipment
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Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in the
Chlor-Alkali Sector

• Goals
• Facilitate implementation of best practices for
  mercury stewardship at mercury-cell facilities
  provide operational information on mercury-free
  technology
• Improve global reporting on mercury consumption
  and releases in the sector

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Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in the
Chlor-Alkali Sector

• Early consultative meeting in Maine (May 2005)
• Training, Action Plan, and implementation of
  three best practice demonstrations at one
  facility in Russia with Arctic Council partners
• Measurable reduction in releases to date of over
  a ton in 2006
• Workshop, facility mentoring, and facility-led
  Action Plan for reduction projects at facility in
  Mexico
• Conducting technical exchange with India for
  information on conversion and mercury cells.

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Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in
Products

• Goals
• Reduce global use of and demand for mercury by
  reducing or eliminating mercury in products where
  effective substitutes exist.
• Reduce global mercury releases that may occur
  during manufacturing and industrial processes and
  during disposal or recycling of
  mercury-containing products and wastes.

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Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in
Products

• Early consultative meeting held in Maine (May
  2005)
• Sponsored product/use reduction workshop for the
  Americas with the CEC (February 2006)
• Working with China, Argentina, Mexico, India and
  possibly other countries on hospital sector
  pilots
• Assisting Burkina Faso with mercury use
  assessment
• Product inventories and emissions inventories

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Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in Coal
Combustion

• Goals
• Improve understanding of the contribution of
  mercury emissions from the power sector
• Increase understanding of existing
  multi-pollutant approaches, including
  cost-effectiveness and sharing of information on
  newly emerging technology
• Workshop on mercury controls from coal fired
  utilities in China (October 2005)
• Working with Indias power sector to improve
  particulate controls and evaluate NOx control
  options
• Exploring a Russia demonstration project on the
  effectiveness of sorbents on power plant
  emissions
• Building on work of Asia Pacific Partnership
  (APP)

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Global Partnership for Air Fate and Transport
Research

• Goals
• Accelerate the development of scientific
  information on global cycling and related
  information on mercury and increase communication
  between scientists and policymakers.
• Facilitate establishment/recognition of regional
  collaborative research programs, invited to post
  summary descriptions of their plans and progress
  on the UNEP website.

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New Partnership Work Areas

• VCM activities fueled through ground work
  conducted by NRDC with additional
  industry-to-industry work through our Russia
  chlor-alkali project
• Waste incineration, including by cement kilns
  activities to initially build on existing EPA
  work in China on cement kilns
• Primary metals smelting Region 5, OAR

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What We can Do

• Global mercury partnerships can achieve
  measurable reductions in mercury use and
  emissions in the near-term.
• EPA views States as important partners
• State Resources Network has potential to be very
  useful in fielding expertise to get measurable
  results.
• We appreciate the interest and encouragement the
  States have shown as we work on this issue.
• Thank You!