Increasing mercury risk of fly ash generated from coal-fired power plants in China

The trend in mercury (Hg) content of fly ash, the primary solid Hg waste from coal-fired power plants (CFPPs), has not been well evaluated in China. This study integrated a national sampling campaign, a literature survey, and model predictions to investigate the trend in Hg content of fly ash and associated output nationwide. The results demonstrated that Hg content of fly ash from both our campaign conducted in 2020 and the literature survey met the Weibull distribution. The best estimate for the distribution of Hg content in our campaign (401.4 µg/kg) was about two-fold higher than that from the literature survey (236.6 µg/kg). The increasing trend was mainly attributed to the increasing installation of advanced air pollution control devices (APCDs) in CFPPs. The total national Hg output by fly ash was estimated to be 217.7 tons (64.1−501.8 tons) currently. Regarding the disposal of fly ash, a total of 16.1 tons and 105.8 tons of Hg were re-emitted into the air and immobilized in materials, respectively. The increasing trend in the Hg content of fly ash suggested the need for more stringent requirements for the disposal of solid Hg waste from CFPPs in China.