The extent of the influence and flux estimation of volatile mercury from the aeration pool in a typical coal-fired power plant equipped with a seawater flue gas desulfurization system.

Before being discharged, the waste seawater from the flue gas desulfurization system of coal-fired power plants contains a large amount of mercury, and is treated in aeration pools. During this aeration process, part of the mercury enters the atmosphere, but only very limited impact studies concerning this have been carried out. Taking a typical Xiamen power plant as an example, the present study targeted the elemental mercury emitted from the aeration pool. Concentrations of dissolved gaseous mercury as high as 1.14±0.17ng·L−1 were observed in the surface waste seawater in the aeration pool, and gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) as high as 10.94±1.89ng·m−3 was found in the air above the pool.