Mercury emissions from industrial sources in India Arun B. Mukherjee 1 , Prosun Bhattacharya 2 , Atanu Sarkar 3 and Ron Zevenhoven 4 1 Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: [email protected]2 KTH-International Groundwater Research Group, Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden 3 Dept of Policy Studies, TERI University, The Energy and Resources Institute, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India 4 Heat Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Technology, Åbo Akademi University, FIN-20500 Turku/Åbo, Finland
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Mercury emissions from industrial sources in India · 2012-11-07 · Mercury emissions from industrial sources in India Arun B. Mukherjee1, Prosun Bhattacharya2, Atanu Sarkar3 and
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Mercury emissions from industrial
sources in India
Arun B. Mukherjee1, Prosun Bhattacharya2, Atanu Sarkar3 and Ron Zevenhoven4
1Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
2KTH-International Groundwater Research Group, Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
3Dept of Policy Studies, TERI University, The Energy and Resources Institute, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India
4Heat Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Technology, Åbo Akademi University, FIN-20500 Turku/Åbo, Finland
I thank Dr. Nicola Pirrone, CNR Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, Rende, and the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea for giving me the opportunity to attend the UNEP F&T-TF HTAP meeting in Rome.
I also thank my co-author, Dr. Atanu Sarkar, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI); New Delhi for collection of data from different sources and forwarding the same to me in Helsinki.
Sources and mercury estimation
procedure
Sources:
Coal combustion;
Iron & Steel Industry;
Non-ferrous metallurgical industry (Cu, Pb and Zn);
Note: All production values are in Mt (million metric tons)
Table 8. Mercury emissions (t/yr) from
cement plants in India, 2000 - 2004
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Emissions 0.005 0.0045 0.0045 0.005 0.005
Cement production: 0.10 – 0.11 Mt/yr;
Emission factor: 45.6 mg/ton of cement (in this study)
Solid waste generation in India
(Reproduced from Singhal & Pandey, 2001)
Table 9. Estimation of the essential parts of
MSW in India based on the study for Allahabad
city (After Sharholy et al. 2007)
Elements in MSW % of weight % of weight based on 21
mega cities*
Paper 3.6 5.7
Cardboard 1.09 -
Metal, tin cans 2.54 2.1
Glass 0.73 2.1
Food wastes 45.3 41.80
Textile rags 2.22 3,5
Plastic (Poly bag) 2.86 3.9
Mis. (bricks, ash
Rubber, wood etc) 41.66 41.1
Total 100 100
Moisture 25 %
* (CPCB, 1999); Note: mega city = Population > over millions
Table 10. Estimated medical waste generation in
selected Asian countries (Visvanathan, 2006)
Country Waste generation (kg/bed) Total waste (t/yr)
Bangladesh 0.8 – 1.67 93,075 (In Dhaka)
Bhutan 0.27 73
China - 730,000
India 1 – 2 330,000
Malaysia 1.9 -
Nepal 0.5 365
Pakistan 1.06 250,000
Sri Lanka 0.36 6,600 (in Colombo)
Thailand 0.68 -
Metro Manila- 17,155
Vietnam 2.27 (Hanoi) 60,000
Table 11. Mercury in waste (Mt) in
India
Waste type 2001 2002 2003 2004 EF, (g/t) Hg in waste t/yr)
MSW 50 50 60 70 1.0 50 – 70
Medical
Waste 0.33 - - 0.33 20 6.6
E-waste - 0.146 0.82
Source: (Visvanathan, 2006; Sarkar, 2007)
Table 12. Mercury emissions from
Indian brick industry
Material Total production Coal used Control tech. EF Emission
of brick in pieces Mt g/t t/yr
Brick 140 x 109 24 No 0.0214 7.49
Brick* 140 x 109 24 Yes 0.0085 2.98
Note: We have assumed that wt of a brick in India is 2.5 kg**. Based on this information, the total wt of bricks in this study = 140 x 109 pieces x 2.5 kg = 350 Mt of bricks; Hg in coal = 0.376 g/t
*We have shown that applying control technology, it is possible to control dusts and other metal emissions to the surrounding of the facility.
**Personal communication: TERI, New Delhi on 11.01.08
3. Indian Journal of marine Science 27, June 1998: 201 – 205.
Table 15. mercury concentration (mg/kg
of different samples of the Ganges River
collected at Varanasi, India (Sinha et al.,
2007)
Season Fish Soil Vegetation
Winter 4.048 18.7 0.095 0.114 0.254 0.397
Summer 0.205 0.531 0.126 0.111 0.098 0.081
Post-
monsoon 4.369 16.10 0 0.245 0.127
Atmospheric Hg emissions from industrial sources in India (This
study)
Source 2000 2004 (tons)
Coal combustion 110.44 120.85
Iron & Steel 2.15 2.88
Non-ferous
-Copper 3.84 6.0
-Lead 0.17 0.125
-Zinc 4.4 5.96
Cement Industry 0.005 0.005
Wastes
-MSW 50 70
-Medical waste 6.6 6.6
E-waste - 0.82
Brick Industry - 7.49
Residue oil 0.52 0.47
Chlor-alkali plant 132 1.06
Total 310 222.26
Note: We have assumed that in 2000, average Hg emissions from Chlor-alkali plants were (185 + 79 = 264 t /2 = 132 t); In 2004, the data for 2006 has been used to estimate Hg emissions from Hg-cell plants. The best emission factor has been used 3.5 g Hg t-1 Cl2. This abnormal reduction of Hg emission in 2004 was due to conversion of Hg-cell process to Membrane-cell process.*Based on emission factor 0.065 g t-1 (Mukherjee et al. 2000)
WCC - Chlor-Alkali Industry
Number of plants and capacity of mercury electrolysis units
in USA/Canada, Europe, India and Brazil/Argentina
(+ 1 Uruguayan and 3 Russian plants from 2005 onwards)
70
75
80
85
90
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Years
Number of
plants
7 000
7 400
7 800
8 200
8 600
9 000
Capacity of
plants (1000 t/y)
Chlor-alkali Industry in the past
Green dots represent Membraneprocess
Red represents Hg-cell
Blue represents
Hg + membrane process
Sources of Mercury in India
(Modified from Srivastava, 2003)
1. Conclusions
India is a vast country with a population of 1.027 billions of people; Surface area of the sub-continent is about 3.28 M km2.
In present study, Hg emissions vary between 310 to 222 t/yr.
There is a long history of chlorine production in India. Since 1940s, chlorine production started by Hg-cell method. Due to increased contamination of Hg in soils, plants and water, 86% of hg-cell process has been converted very recently into Membrane process which is Hg free. For this reason, total Hg emission in 2004 has been obtained at 222 tons.
Due to discharge of Hg, coastal waters, river waters, aquatic pieces and soils near the vicinity of plants have been contaminated. In the Ganges river near the holy city of varanasi, Hg in fish (Macrognathus pancalus) was reported at 0.11 – 91.70 mg/kg.
2. Conclusion
There are serious problem of MSW, hazardous waste and E-waste in the subcontinent, India. Between 2000 and 2004, 50 to 70 Mt of MSW were generated. Medical waste has been estimated at 0.33 Mt/yr and the EF was 20 g Hg/t of medical waste.
The E-waste has estimated at 380 kt in 2007 and the production will increase at 470 kt in 2011. There is also illegal import of E-waste to India as well as to China and Pakistan.
The Indian brick industry produce 140 billion of bricks and consume 24 Mt of coal. Uncontrolled emission of Hg has been estimated at 7.49 t/yr.
Future Direction
It is vital for Indian scientists to determine the sources of Hg and its emissions.
Often emission data in Asia have been underestimated, as a result of which large variations occurred in Hg cycle.
The diversity in Asian countries will effect on the bioaccumulation, biomagnification and the uptake of Hg.
Emission of Hg from brick manufacturing in Asia should be critically measured.
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