atmospheric mercury News
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Record elevation set for Tekran: ambient air monitoring in the clouds
The Tekran ambient air mercury speciation system has been taken to new heights. The Tekran 2537-1130-1135 speciation system has been successfully deployed for long-term monitoring at an elevation of 3810 meters (12,500 ft) at Mt. Waliguan, China. This beats the old record of 2763 meters (9065 ft) at Mt. Bachelor set by Dr. Daniel Jaffe’s Research Group. The installation and ongoing ...
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World governments support breakthrough agreement on mercury
Defying expectations, world environmental ministers have agreed to begin negotiating a treaty to control global mercury pollution. The decision represents the consensus of the more than 140 countries gathered here for the 25th UNEP Governing Council meeting. “This consensus is a huge breakthrough,” said Elena Lymberidi – Settimo of the European Environmental Bureau and the Zero Mercury Working ...
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Lumex Instruments Discussed the Mercury Pollution Problems in Vietnam
Specialists of Lumex Instruments took part in seminar dedicated to the control of environmental pollution by mercury. This event was held on 3rd of April in Vietnam, that had signed the Minamata Convention in 2013. It took place in Center for Environmental Monitoring by the initiative of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. There our company presented the line of mercury analyzers and ...
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`Chemical fingerprints` could reveal source of mercury pollution
Scientists have described a new method for tracking down the source of mercury pollution from burning coal. By analysing the chemistry of the pollution, it is possible to identify which region the coal was originally from. Mercury pollution in the atmosphere comes mainly from coal-fired power stations and chemical plants. Mercury is naturally present in coal and is emitted when it is burned as ...
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Forest fires increase mercury emissions
Mercury is a global pollutant arising from many sources, including biomass burning (BMB), which includes both wildfires and intentional fires to clear land. A recent study estimates that mercury emissions from BMB make up 8 per cent of total global mercury emissions. Mercury emissions from BMB have received growing attention. Forests in particular act as mercury sinks because atmospheric ...
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Study reveals mercury contamination in Fish Nationwide
Scientists detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released today. About a quarter of these fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than two-thirds ...
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Lumex Instruments Takes Part in Making Mercury History
Minamata disease is one of the most notorious ecological catastrophes of the 20th century. Discharge of mercury-containing effluent by the "Chisso" chemical plant to the Minamata Bay in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, gave rise to a dangerous syndrome that seriously affects the central nervous system due to the toxicity of methylmercury, which gets into the body with contaminated food. In our ...
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Johnson Matthey Licenses DOE Patent to Remove Mercury and Arsenic from New IGCC Coal Power Plants
MALVERN, PA– Johnson Matthey announced today that it has been granted an exclusive license by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) for its high temperature sorbent technology and patent to remove mercury, arsenic and potentially selenium and cadmium from syngas produced by coal gasification. This license was a natural extension of a two-year Cooperative ...
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Mercury workshops in South Africa
In March Lumex Instruments company took part in several workshops in South Africa, which are devoted to the problems of mercury pollution, its sources and impact. Two events – Energy Efficiency & Emissions workshop and 12th annual Mercury Emissions from Coal workshop – were organized by IEA Clean Coal Centre. Our expert among more than 70 participants from around the world ...
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Understanding the movement of mercury in the atmosphere
In order to reduce mercury pollution, we need to understand its movement in the global atmosphere. A UN report summarises current information on mercury transport in the atmosphere and indicates that intensive global monitoring is needed to inform and evaluate policy. As a result of EU policy1, European emissions of mercury have dropped considerably in recent decades, decreasing by about 60 per ...
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Researchers reveal strategies for mercury reduction in time for negotiations
MIT, Harvard professors map future trends, reveal ways to reduce mercury levels on eve of final international meeting for mercury control. Written by Vicki Ekstrom.You can read the original story in MIT NewsInternational negotiators will come together next week in Geneva, Switzerland for the fifth and final meeting to address global controls on mercury. Ahead of the negotiations, researchers from ...
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Mercury Hotspots Detected in Eastern U.S. and Canada
WASHINGTON, DC (ENS) – U.S. sources of mercury emissions, particularly coal-fired power plants, are the major cause of five biological mercury hotspots identified in New England, New York and Nova Scotia, according to two new scientific studies. The findings indicate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is greatly underestimating local and regional impacts of mercury emissions, but ...
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Use of mercury in gold mining stirs controversy in Brazil
Scientists in Brazil have expressed concern that new regulations in the country's Amazonas state continue to permit the use of mercury in gold mining, and have put forward what they say are more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Mercury is used mainly in small-scale 'artisanal' mining, using amalgamation processes that extract gold from other minerals by binding it to the mercury, and then ...
By SciDev.Net
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European successes in reducing toxic metal pollutants
Strategies in Europe to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of heavy metals have been successful in reducing atmospheric emissions of cadmium, lead and mercury, according to a recent study. The study suggests further reductions are possible. Heavy metals are toxic to human health and can damage the environment. For example, if large amounts of lead build up in the ...
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Landmark US Geological Survey study demonstrates how methylmercury, known to contaminate seafood, originates in the ocean
A new landmark study published today documents for the first time the process in which increased mercury emissions from human sources across the globe, and in particular from Asia, make their way into the North Pacific Ocean and as a result contaminate tuna and other seafood. Because much of the mercury that enters the North Pacific comes from the atmosphere, scientists have predicted an ...
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EPA Everglades Study Shows Contamination has Declined, but Risks Still Remain
(ATLANTA – September 19, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a report today documenting the ecological condition of the entire 2,063-square-mile freshwater portion of the publicly- owned Everglades. The report documents the third phase of an 11-year study of the Everglades marshes, which determined that mercury in prey fish is declining, but still elevated, while phosphorous ...
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Registration for Mercury 2013 is now open!
The organisers of the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (Mercury 2013) have announced that online visitor registration for the conference is now available at www.mercury2013.com Mercury 2013 taking place from 28th July – 2nd August 2013 in Edinburgh, Scotland is the pre-eminent international forum for formal presentation and discussion of scientific advances ...
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Economic benefits from reducing mercury emissions
Large benefits can be achieved for society by reducing global emissions of mercury. Global savings of US$1.8-2.2 billion (€1.3-1.6 billion) can be made by reducing damage to IQ alone, according to recent research. Mercury emitted to the atmosphere primarily comes from combustion of fossil fuels (about 46 per cent of global mercury emissions) and high temperature processing of minerals, such as ...
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Questions and answers on EU Mercury Policy
What is mercury? Mercury is familiar to many as a silver-coloured liquid which expands and contracts in a thermometer to show the temperature. It is also known as “quicksilver” or "hydrargyrum" (i.e. liquid silver) and is represented by the symbol Hg. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at ambient room temperature. It is a chemical element and therefore indestructible. This ...
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Mercury – Have your say on the EU implementation of the Minamata Convention
The European Commission has launched an on-line consultation on issues related to the ratification and implementation by the EU of the Minamata Convention on mercury. The Convention was signed in October 2013. At that time, it was the 1st international environmental agreement concluded in a decade. It is a global treaty that aims to protect human health and the environment from the adverse ...
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