Trends in anthropogenic mercury emissions in China from 1995 to 2003

We have developed multiple-year inventories of anthropogenic mercury emissions in China for 1995 through 2003. We estimate that total Hg emissions from all anthropogenic sources increased at an average annual rate of 2.9% during the period 1995-2003, reaching 696 (+/- 307) t in 2003, with a speciation split of 395 t of Hg0, 230 t of Hg2+, and 70 t of Hg(p). Nonferrous metals smelting and coal combustion continue to be the two leading mercury sources in China, as nonferrous metals production and coal consumption keep increasing. Nonferrous metals smelting and coal combustion together contributed approximately 80% of total Hg emissions during the past decade. Hg emissions from coal combustion increased from 202 t in 1995 to 257 t in 2003 at an average annual rate of 3.0%. Among all of the coal consumption sectors, the power sector is the leading one in Hg emissions growth, up by 5.9% annually. Hg emissions from nonferrous metals smelting increased from 230 t in 1995 to 321 t in 2003 at an average annual rate of 4.2%. Although Hg emissions related to gold smelting decreased since 1996, other nonferrous metals such as zinc, lead, and copper contributed significant Hg growth at annual rates of 8.5%, 13.0%, and 6.9%, respectively. At provincial level, the trends of Hg emissions show significant variation. The uncertainty level decreased from +/- 78% (95% confidence interval) in the estimate of total emissions in 1995, to +/- 44% in 2003. This is primarily attributed to the decreased emissions from those Hg sources with the largest uncertainty in both activity levels and emission factors, such as artisanal gold smelting, mercury mining, and battery/fluorescent lamp production.