Abstract
Coal is an important source of energy in China. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, 3,570 million tons coal was consumed in 2011, which was about 72.8% of the primary energy used in China. Although new sources of energy are now being used, it is estimated that the use of coal will still be above 60% of the total primary energy production by the year 2020. The typical way of utilizing coal is through burning. Emissions such as sulfur oxides (SO x ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and trace mercury (Hg), etc., from burning coal have caused serious pollution problems. In fact, coal-fired power plants are the main sources of mercury emissions[1]. In 2005, about 495 tons of mercury came from coal-fired power plants and other sources. Considering the rapid economic growth and industrial expansion of China, the annual growth of mercury emissions is expected to reach 20 – 30 tons[2]. Hu estimated that there were about 193.6 tons of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China in 2005. This figure amounts to 12% of global mercury emissions[3].
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© 2013 Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Zhou, J., Luo, Z., Zhu, Y., Fang, M. (2013). Controlling Pollutants in Coal-Fired Power Plants in China. In: Mercury Emission and its Control in Chinese Coal-Fired Power Plants. Advanced Topics in Science and Technology in China. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37874-4_1
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