Impact of a Coal-Fired Power Plant Shutdown Campaign on Heavy Metal Emissions in China

Recently, China has committed to decommissioning the heavy metal (HM) intensive coal-fired power plants (CFPPs), small units especially, yet a quantitative assessment for the impact on HM emissions remains poorly understood. This study, for the first time, compiles a plant-specific inventory for six...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental science & technology Vol. 53; no. 23; pp. 14063 - 14069
Main Authors Zhou, Sili, Wei, Wendong, Chen, Long, Zhang, Zengkai, Liu, Zhaohui, Wang, Yi, Kong, Jiayue, Li, Jiashuo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 03.12.2019
Subjects
Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Cadmium
China
Chromium
Coal
Coal-fired power plants
Decommissioning
Electric power generation
Emission inventories
Emissions control
Environmental Monitoring
Five year plans
Heavy metals
human health
Humans
Industrial plant emissions
inventories
Lead
Mercury
Mercury (metal)
Metals, Heavy
Parameter identification
Plant shutdowns
Pollutants
Pollution control
Power Plants
Selenium
technology
China
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Recently, China has committed to decommissioning the heavy metal (HM) intensive coal-fired power plants (CFPPs), small units especially, yet a quantitative assessment for the impact on HM emissions remains poorly understood. This study, for the first time, compiles a plant-specific inventory for six HMs (Hg, As, Se, Pb, Cd, and Cr) avoided by CFPPs decommissioned in China during the 12th Five Year Plan period. The reduced HM amounts to 271.58 t (9.19 t Hg, 45.84 t As, 60.76 t Se, 85.30 t Pb, 1.74 t Cd, and 68.75 t Cr), accounting for 12.71% of the total emissions from all China’s CFPPs in 2010. Small units which have low boiler efficiency and lack air pollutant control devices are more than tenfold HM-intensive as the large units. The detailed HM emission factors for each CFPP decommissioned in each provincial region are also identified. HM content in the coal consumed is a key parameter to determine their corresponding emission factors, while the capacity of decommissioned coal plants plays a decisive role in the reduced emissions. The high-resolution inventory not only verifies China’s progress in alleviating HM pollution, but also provides basis for further investigation into HM relevant environmental and human health impact.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.9b04683