The influences of a local coal-fired power plant on downwind ambient mercury concentrations

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Jiaoyan Huang, Thomas M Holsen, Yungang Wang and Philip K Hopke

University of Nevada, USA
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Clarkson University, USA

: Expert Opin Environ Biol

Abstract

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Recently the United States Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations for Hg emissions from coal-fired power plants (CFPP). A mercury (Hg) speciation system was applied in Rochester, New York (2007-2009) and a local CFPP was shut down in spring 2008. The median concentrations of GEM, GOM, and PBM significantly decreased by 12%, 73%, and 50% after the CFPP closed (Mann-Whitney test, p<0.001). Both Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Positive Matrix Factorization (EPA PMFv4.1) identified four common factors including traffic, gas phase oxidation, wood combustion, and CFPP. However, PCA and PMF also found snow melting and O3-rich are important to gaseous elemental Hg. Conditional probability function (CPF) analysis showed the greatest reduction in all three Hg species was associated with northwesterly winds pointing toward the CFPP. These changes were clearly attributable to the closure of the CFPP. Furthermore, the partitioning coefficient significantly changed after the local CFPP closure, and this implies that the local CFPP had significant influence on both ambient air Hg concentrations and the species of reactive Hg.

Biography

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Jiaoyan Huang is an atmospheric pollution scientist at the University Nevada, Reno, has conducted ambient air monitoring, dispersion, and receptor modeling for dioxin, mercury, aerosol, and other trace gaseous at multiple sites, and has developed new methods of ambient air Hg dry deposition and concentrations measurements. He earned his PhD degree in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University.

Email: huangj1311@gmail.com