An Atmospheric Emission Inventory Of Arsenic,Mercury,Fluorine,beryllium,And Uranium From Coal-fired Power Plants In The Huainan And Huaibei Area

The Huainan and Huaibei area in Anhui is the most important energy base in East China.There are so many pithead coal-fired power plants with such a large coal consumption that the atmospheric emissions of volatile hazardous trace elements,i.e.,arsenic,mercury,fluorine,beryllium,and uranium,increased with rising coal combustion.During the coal-to-electricity conversion of pithead power plants,the emitted pollutants have a great impact on the environment around the power plant.The emission of hazardous elements from coal in the Huainan and Huaibei area is not systematically estimated.Based on the annual coal consumption of coal-fired power plants in the area,the elemental concentration in the Huainan and Huaibei coals,and the atmospheric emission factors of the elements,an atmospheric emission inventory of hazardous elements,i.e.,arsenic,mercury,fluorine,beryllium,and uranium,was established Moreover,taking a coal-fired power plant in this area as an example,raw coal,fly ash,bottom ash,limestone,gypsum,and other by-products were collected.The concentrations of race elements were determined.The distribution of beryllium and uranium in these by-products was analyzed.Finally,the mass balance of uranium and beryllium was calculated.Results indicate that:(1)the average concentrations of arsenic,mercury,fluorine,beryllium and uranium in the Huainan coal are 2.04μg/g,0.22μg/g,98.6μg/g,2.37μg/g and 2.40 μg/g,respectively,which are comparable to common Chinese coals.(2)Due to the implementation of the "Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Thermal Power Plants" in 2012,the air pollution control device has been updated.In 2012,the coal-fired power plants in the Huainan and Huaibei area,which were euipped with electrostatic precipitators,emitted 0.18 t,1.23 t,643 t,0.07 t,and 0.19 t As,Hg,F,Be,and U into the atmosphere,respecitively.All the plants,which were retrofitted with the electrostatic precipitator and flue gas desulfurization device,emitted 0.09 t,0.95t,46.9 t,0.02 t and 0.03 t As,Hg,F,Be and U in 2017.The atmospheric emissions of hazardous elements significantly reduced compared to that of 2012.And(3)a case power plant in this area shows that most of the uranium and beryllium enriched in fly ash and bottom ash.When 1 kg of raw coal were combusted,it would emit 0.185 mg beryllium and 0.994 mg uranium into the atmosphere.The atmospheric emission factors beryllium and uranium from this power plant are 9.6%and 31.9%,respectively.Figure 9 Table 21 Reference 133...