Comprehensive ban on mercury: China and the world are in step

Among the global sources of mercury emissions, coal-fired emissions are one of the major emission routes. The British government recently announced a new plan for thermal power stations and technologies to reduce pollution gas emissions. The picture shows a British thermal power station. (For CFP)

Sinochem New Network News From January 23 to 28, 2011, the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Global Mercury Instrument was held in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

In response to mercury pollution, both international and domestic efforts are actively made. How far is the total ban on mercury? What is the attitude of countries in the world? What is China's ban on mercury doing? The reporter interviewed Liu Dongsheng, deputy secretary-general of China Chlor-Alkali Industry Association, who participated in the Chiba conference with these questions.

Delegates from various countries discussed Chiba prefecture in Japan on terms and conditions, and they are not unfamiliar to the Chinese people recently. Chiba Prefecture is one of the hardest-hit areas in Japan's March 11 earthquake. Liu Dongsheng spoke with emotion to the reporter about the trip to Chiba Prefecture: “I’m very impressed by Chiba Prefecture. Although this is also a city where heavy industry is densely distributed, the air is fresh and the roads are tidy. I really feel the Japanese. We have worked hard on environmental protection. I did not expect that the earthquake in Japan that took more than a month later has caused this beautiful city to suffer heavy losses. What a pity.”

Liu Dongsheng said that in February 2009, at the ministerial meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme held in Nairobi, Kenya, 140 countries decided to start drafting a legally binding international instrument on the prevention of mercury pollution in 2010, including There are 3 items such as safe storage of mercury, reduction of mercury supply, and reduction of mercury content in products worldwide, and it is planned to be completed by February 2013. This international instrument is the Global Mercury Instrument. In June 2010, the first intergovernmental negotiating meeting was held in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, on the Global Mercury Instrument drafted for mercury pollution. The Chiba meeting is the second inter-governmental negotiations for the finalization of the Global Mercury Instrument. More than 100 government delegations and non-government delegations attended the Chiba conference. A total of 24 delegations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Energy Bureau, and the Department of Medicine and related industries have sent representatives to attend the meeting, which is the largest number of delegations attending the conference.

At the meeting, representatives of various countries and non-governmental organizations discussed the articles in the articles. According to Liu Dongsheng, the key issues discussed include: how to solve mercury emissions mainly from industry, especially coal-fired power plants; how to phase out mercury in medical devices and other products; how to encourage small-scale gold mining owners to extract gold Minerals, mercury waste treatment, and disposal of contaminated sites will stop the use of mercury amalgamation.

Liu Dongsheng said that in general, countries do not have major differences of opinion on the main content of the instrument. The two goals of treating mercury pollution are two prohibitions: the prohibition of the exploitation of mercury and the prohibition of the use of mercury. However, no consensus has yet been formed at this meeting. Based on the results of the Chiba talks, the United Nations Environment Programme will summarize and reflect the views of the parties to the international mercury convention, draft a draft methodology and submit the draft to the third time in October 2011 in South Africa. The meeting is under consideration.

“The meeting’s unforgettable thing was that the host country, Japan, invited the victims of Minamata disease to tell their delegates about their bitter experience.” Liu Dongsheng told reporters that in the 1930s, Japan’s Chisso Corporation used mercury as a tool for the production of nitrogenous fertilizers. The catalyst, a byproduct of the highly toxic methylmercury, was discharged into the waters of the Shuilian Bay without treatment. Residents have consumed fish that have exceeded the standard of methyl mercury and caused mercury poisoning. Many residents experienced hand, foot, and lisp, and lost neurological symptoms such as vision and hearing, causing more than 2,000 people to lose their lives. The total number of patients exceeded 10,000, causing a worldwide sensation of mink disease. Until today, many people still suffer from it.

Liu Dongsheng said, but in fact, Japan’s lessons did not prevent mercury’s human health. During the first meeting of intergovernmental negotiations held in Stockholm, Sweden, 45 government representatives, 8 non-governmental organization staff, and local indigenous peoples were tested for mercury levels. The results showed that each person's hair contained mercury, and more than one-third of them contained mercury in excess of the National Reference Committee's mercury reference dose of 1000 μg/kg. It is understood that the average mercury content in the hair of developing countries and countries with economies in transition is twice that of the representatives of developed countries. The UN Environment Agency disclosed in the Global Mercury Assessment Report that, on a global average, anthropogenic releases of mercury have resulted in deposition rates 1.5 to 3 times higher than before the industrialization. In and around industrial areas, the rate of mercury deposition has increased by 2 to 10 times in the past 200 years. This reflects the urgency of the global ban on mercury.

Liu Dongsheng, a passionate and concerned person from various countries, said that at the Chiba meeting, countries also exchanged ideas on reducing mercury emissions.

For example, the United States. In 1990, the United States' Clean Air Act (Amendment) listed mercury as a harmful gas pollutant. In 2003, the United States announced plans to reduce 70% of mercury pollution from coal power stations by 2018, and in 2007 it announced the mercury market minimisation bill that prohibits mercury exports. The “Clean Air Mercury Act” promulgated in March 2005 puts total control over mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants; the Clean Water Act identifies mercury emissions from different industries; the Clean Air Act and the Conservation of Resources Act contains mercury. Products and wastes have specific classification and processing requirements; the Mercury and Rechargeable Battery Management Act prohibits the sale of certain types of batteries. In 2008, the United States promulgated the "Prohibition of Mercury Export Law", which stipulates that the export, sale, distribution and transfer of metallic mercury shall be prohibited from January 2013, and put forward specific requirements for the long-term storage and management of mercury.

For example, the European Union. In June 2005, the European Union formulated a strategy to eradicate mercury pollution and comprehensively control mercury pollution, including reducing mercury emissions to the atmosphere, reducing mercury use and demand, eliminating the use of mercury processes, and managing, replacing and recycling mercury products. From March 15, 2011, the EU has completely banned the export of metallic mercury, mercury ore, mercury compounds, and mercury amalgams, requiring that recycled mercury be managed and disposed of as waste, and it should not be used for industrial purposes such as chloralkali production. In addition to implementing EU directives, EU member states have also issued mercury pollution control laws according to their own characteristics. Germany regulates the limits of pollutants emitted by industry into the atmosphere; Sweden has introduced a series of mercury regulations in succession since 1991 and established a complete mercury management system. France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and other countries even require cremation plants to use the best available technology to meet the mercury emission rate requirements.

However, the negotiations did not address the final timetable for the ban on mercury. During the negotiations, some delegations also expressed concern about the possible impact of the ban on mercury. According to Liu Dongsheng, in the EU countries, there are still more than 4 million tons of mercury-alkali-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) capacity that is relatively backward. During the negotiation process, the EU proposed that it is more difficult to completely replace the mercury alkali process with mercury-free technology and strive to phase out the mercury alkali polyvinyl chloride by 2020. However, as early as the beginning of this century, China completely eliminated the mercury-alkali process. Moreover, European countries have the world's most advanced and most mature ion-matrix-alkali technology and have nearly 40 years of operational experience. They can completely replace mercury-based mercury-alkali methods. Liu Dongsheng analyzed that the reason why the EU has extended the replacement cycle to 2020 is mainly due to the current economic downturn. The high costs of replacing old ones may overwhelm these companies.

Since the mercury-free catalyst technology has not yet been developed, during the negotiations, the Chinese delegation believes that the calcium carbide process polyvinyl chloride (PVC) process should be used as a permissible process scheme. In addition, for countries that require mercury countries to formulate reduction targets, countries such as India have raised objections due to concerns about restrictions on coal-fired power stations.

Liu Dongsheng stated that to form an internationally binding mercury convention, it is also necessary for all governments to exert their wisdom to conduct full consultation and coordination.

China's most acute lack of mercury-free catalyst technology Liu Dongsheng told reporters that as the United States and European countries close down mercury mines and ban the international trade of mercury and mercury compounds, China's large capacity of calcium carbide process PVC will face no shortage of rice. Therefore, China has been worried about this adjustment in the chlor-alkali industry. Fortunately, compared with the international negotiations on carbon emissions reduction, China has participated in the international negotiations on mercury emission reduction from the very beginning. This avoids the situation in which developed countries made rules and developing countries followed. However, this does not mean that we can procrastinate indefinitely. After all, this is a matter that concerns our own health and safety. Therefore, both the government sector and the chlor-alkali industry have already taken mercury emission reduction as a top priority.

Liu Dongsheng said that as the largest mercury use industry in the country, the chlor-alkali industry has already implemented mercury emission reduction actions. At present, the chlor-alkali industry proposes a mercury pollution control strategy that actively eliminates high-mercury catalysts, moderately develops low-mercury catalysts, and accelerates the advancement of mercury-free catalysts, and defines the overall timetable for mercury pollution prevention and control: from 2010 to 2015, it is a low-mercury stage. , From 2015 to 2020, it will be a solid mercury stage, and from 2021 to 2030 will be a non-mercury stage. The chlor-alkali industry association has compiled a series of mercury-inhibiting industry policies that play an important role in promoting mercury emission reduction and comprehensive ban on mercury. .

The most urgent issue in the chlor-alkali industry is the development of mercury-free catalyst technology. Calcium carbide method as China's unique PVC process route, there is no international experience in mercury catalyst catalyst can learn from. At present, Shijiazhuang Kechuang Auxiliary Co., Ltd. has successfully developed a low-mercury catalyst. Compared with the traditional high-mercury catalyst, the content of *** has dropped significantly. On August 17, 2010, the strategic alliance for technological innovation in the mercury-free catalyst industry, led by the China Petrochemical Federation, was established in Shihezi City, Xinjiang, aiming to overcome the key and common technical problems of mercury-free catalysts.

Liu Dongsheng said that with the increasing scarcity of mercury resources and the increasingly limited international trade in mercury, the price of international mercury has risen sharply. Recently, the price of mercury has risen from more than 100,000 yuan per ton last year to over 600,000 yuan now, and the cost of mercury has increased substantially. “Whether it is the mercury pressure limit or the market pressure of mercury, we are forcing us to speed up the development of mercury-free catalyst technology. We have already retired.” Liu Dongsheng said.