Preventive measures
Mercury is widely used in industry and causes serious pollution, which has a great impact on human health, so the wastewater containing mercury must be purified and treated in accordance with the regulations before it is discharged. In addition, the methylmercury in fish and mud should be checked regularly. China's Industrial Enterprise Design Health Standard stipulates that the maximum permissible daily average concentration of mercury in the atmosphere in residential areas is 0.0003 mg/m; the maximum permissible concentration of mercury in ground water is 0.001 mg/liter. China's Hygienic Standard for Drinking Water stipulates that the concentration of mercury shall not exceed 0.001 mg/liter. China's Trial Emission Standards for Industrial "Three Wastes" stipulate that the maximum permissible emission concentration of mercury and its inorganic compounds is 0.05 mg/l (Hg). Chronic inorganic and organic mercury poisoning can be treated with mercapto complexing agents to drive out mercury, but the efficacy of organic mercury poisoning is far less than that of inorganic mercury poisoning.
At the United Nations Environment Programme ministerial meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2009, 140 countries decided to begin drafting a legally binding international instrument on the prevention of mercury pollution in 2010, which includes the safe storage of mercury on a global scale, the reduction of the supply of mercury, and the reduction of the mercury content of products, and is scheduled to be completed by February 2013. Key issues discussed at the June 2010 Chiba meeting of representatives from countries around the world on the instrument included: how to address mercury emissions, primarily from industry, especially coal-fired power plants; how to encourage the phase-out of mercury in products such as medical devices; and how to get small-scale gold miners to stop using mercury in gold refining, among other things. China is vigorously researching mercury-free catalysts for industry; equipment to remove mercury from natural gas; and alternatives to mercury-containing sphygmomanometers and thermometers.
Atmospheric Mercury Emission Monitoring
The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) is actively promoting pilot work on monitoring atmospheric mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The MEP said the ministry will conduct research on the pilot places. The just-released "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions" also proposes to carry out pollution prevention and control of atmospheric mercury emissions.
Mercury is a highly biotoxic heavy metal pollutant in the environment, and it is difficult to be discharged after it enters the organism, seriously threatening human health. Over the past decade or so, the concentration of mercury in the environment has continued to rise worldwide, which has caused great concern among governments and environmental organizations, and has become another global environmental problem following the issue of climate change. It is estimated that 45% of global anthropogenic mercury emissions come from coal combustion, and the thermal power industry has become the focus of mercury pollution control.
The State Council attaches great importance to the prevention and control of mercury pollution. 2009 issued the "General Office of the State Council forwarded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other departments on the strengthening of heavy metal pollution prevention and control of the work of the guiding opinions notice" will be the focus of the prevention and control of mercury pollution; in May 2010, issued the "State Council forwarded by the General Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other departments on the promotion of joint prevention and control of air pollution to improve the regional air quality guidance. Air Quality Guidance Notice", further proposed the construction of thermal power units flue gas desulfurization, denitrification, dust removal and mercury removal and other multi-pollutant synergistic control demonstration projects.
Mercury emission monitoring pilot
Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and other 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as Huaneng, Guodian and other enterprises have begun to carry out atmospheric mercury emission monitoring pilot.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said that since 2011, the ministry has organized and carried out pilot monitoring of atmospheric mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, with the aim of providing basic data for China's prevention and control of mercury pollution; and through the pilot demonstration, to put forward proposals for technical and economic policies to control atmospheric mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.
According to the arrangement of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Regions", China will carry out in-depth pilot work on the control of atmospheric mercury emissions in the second three years of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", actively promote the synergistic control of mercury emissions; implement the demonstration work on the technology for the removal of fume and dust from the nonferrous metal industry; and prepare a technical proposal for the control of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.