(BAT) Reference Document for the Production of Chlor-alkali ...

Chapter 3
Table 3.24: Mercury emission data from the EMECAP project and Euro Chlor for three
mercury cell chlor-alkali plants
Chlorine
production
capacity ( 1 )
Total mercury emissions to air
In g/h ( 2 ) ( 3 )
In g/t annual
chlorine capacity ( 3 ) ( 4 )
In g/t annual
chlorine capacity ( 5 Plant
)
In kt/yr January – June – January – June – Annual Annual
February August February August average average
2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003
AkzoNobel,
Bohus
(Sweden)
Solvay,
100 6 11 0.5 0.96 0.23 0.20
Rosignano
(Italy)
Zaklady
125 20 54 1.4 3.8 0.67 0.41
Azotowe,
Tarnów
(Poland)
43 ND 28 ND 5.7 ND ND
( 1 ) Data taken from [ 107, Euro Chlor 2006 ].
( 2 ) Data taken from [ 102, EMECAP 2004 ].
( 3 ) Data refer to the average of measurements conducted during one week.
( 4 ) Data calculated using the data from [ 102, EMECAP 2004 ] and [ 107, Euro Chlor 2006 ].
( 5 ) Data provided by Euro Chlor and reported in [ 97, Concorde 2006 ].
NB: ND = no data available.
As can be seen, total mercury emissions to air as reported by the EMECAP project are
approximately a factor of two to nine times higher than those reported by Euro Chlor. The
reasons for these discrepancies are unclear. They might result from the differences in the
monitoring techniques used, the measurement uncertainty or from the fact that the EMECAP
figures refer to short-term measurement campaigns of one week while the Euro Chlor figures
refer to annual averages.
The results of two more independent studies on mercury emissions from the cell room are
described in Section 3.5.6.2. Other studies were carried out on mercury concentrations in
ambient air in the vicinity of mercury cell chlor-alkali plants [ 95, EEB 2008 ], [ 102, EMECAP
2004 ], but it is impossible to derive emission data from these measurements.
3.5.6 Emissions to air Air emissions
3.5.6.1 Overview
Emissions to air specific to mercury cell plants relate to mercury. Other emissions are described
in Section 3.4 on emissions and waste generation of relevance for all three cell techniques.
Emission sources include the cell room ventilation (see Section 3.5.6.2) and process exhausts
(see Section 3.5.6.3).
WORKING DRAFT IN PROGRESS
Air emissions consist of mercury and, in small quantities, chlorine gas from the cells (see
Section 3.1.2). Other fugitive emissions are described in the paragraphs concerning outputs
from the auxiliary processes.
Releases of mercury are specific to the amalgam technology. Air emissions consist of mercury
vapour coming from:
cell room ventilation
process exhausts
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