National and Global Atmospheric Mercury Emissions

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  • Kida Akiko
    Laboratory of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University

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  • 水銀の大気排出量
  • スイギン ノ タイキ ハイシュツリョウ

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Preparation of national anthropogenic mercury emissions is one of the main themes of the new mercury convention being conducted by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) as a means of enforcing global controls on mercury. World-wide mining data, mercury demands for both Japan and the world, and global mercury emissions are the main frames of reference. Japan′s total demand for mercury has reached 27000tons (-1956), equivalent to 2% of the world′s total mine production rate of 550000tons (-1900). In the 1970′s Japan consumed 1/5 of the world′s demand. This suggests that Japan may be a contributor to global mercury contamination. Global mercury emissions have been estimated at 1930 (1220-2900) tons/yr, an amount that surpasses the annual mine production of 1300ton/yr. Anthropogenic mercury emissions in Japan have been estimated at 21.3-28.3tons/yr. Contributions according to each emission source include : fossil fuel combustion at 10-14% ; iron and steel production at 14-19% ; non-ferrous metal smelting at 2-13% ; cement production at 31-42% ; waste (municipal and industrial solid waste) incineration at 8-12%. Specifically, the emissions from all these manufacturing processes combined contribute to 60% of total emissions. Also noteworthy is that municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration contributes to 1%, while in the mid-1980s mercury contents in MSW were reported to be 1-2mg/kg, suggesting that MSW may have been contributing 30-60 ton/yr before the mid-1980s.

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