title: Mercury mass flow in iron and steel production process and its implications for mercury emission control.
abstract: The iron and steel production process is one of the predominant anthropogenic sources of atmospheric mercury emissions worldwide. In this study, field tests were conducted to study mercury emission characteristics and mass flows at two iron and steel plants in China. It was found that low-sulfur flue gas from sintering machines could contribute up to 41% of the total atmospheric mercury emissions, and desulfurization devices could remarkably help reduce the emissions. Coal gas burning accounted for 17%-49% of the total mercury emissions, and therefore the mercury control of coal gas burning, specifically for the power plant burning coal gas to generate electricity, was significantly important. The emissions from limestone and dolomite production and electric furnaces can contribute 29.3% and 4.2% of the total mercury emissions from iron and steel production. More attention should be paid to mercury emissions from these two processes. Blast furnace dust accounted for 27%-36% of the total mercury output for the whole iron and steel production process. The recycling of blast furnace dust could greatly increase the atmospheric mercury emissions and should not be conducted. The mercury emission factors for the coke oven, sintering machine and blast furnace were 0.039-0.047gHg/ton steel, and for the electric furnace it was 0.021gHg/ton steel. The predominant emission species was oxidized mercury, accounting for 59%-73% of total mercury emissions to air.
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Fengyang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: shxwang@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuxiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Qingru
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jiming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hao
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China; D007501:Iron; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008669:Metallurgy; D013232:Steel
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D013232:Steel; D007501:Iron; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Emission characteristics; Emission control; Iron and steel plant; Mass flow; Mercury