Different mercury species in the atmosphere over the municipal solid waste landfills

Mercury （Hg） in atmosphere can indicate the air quality and the intensity of the Hg emission sources, and the potential impact of the emission source on the local, regional, and global environments. Landfill is a place where municipal solid waste is transported, dumped, spread, and buried, during these disposal processes, some Hg contained in the wastes will be released into atmosphere. This paper presents different Hg species in the atmosphere over the near surface at 5 landfills, i.e., 3 landfills in Guiyang and 2 landfills in Wuhan. Besides one operational sanitary landfill, Gaoyan, the other four landfills just present the total gaseous mercury （TGM） over 0.1 m above the ground; in the Gaoyan landfill, TGM was measured at two altitudes, 0.1 m and 2 m, and other Hg species, reactive gaseous mercury （R.GM）, total particulate mercury （TPM）, monomethyl mercury （MMHg） and dimethyl mercury （DMHg） were also monitored at 2 m above the ground. TGM was measured by Tekran 2537A mercury analyzer, RGM was collected by KCl coated denuders, TPM by quartz filters, MMHg absorbed by dilute HCl solution, DMHg absorbed by CarbotrapTM and analyzed by GC-CVAFS. The results showed that the TGM over the closed landfills has an obvious diurnal pattern, with maximum at daytime and minimum during nighttime, which reflects the Hg emission process over the landfill cover surface, the typical average TGM was about 10-30 ng/m^3 at 2 closed landfills, which was several times higher than the global background; at the soil covered part of the active landfills, TGM concentration range and variation are similar to those at the closed landfills; when the weather is clear, the highest TGM appeared at the working face and downwind of the wording face, TGM can reach up to 500 ng/m^3 at these places, but at raining days, there is no distinct discrepancy between TGM measured at the upwind and downwind of the working face.

Different mercury species in the atmosphere over the municipal solid waste landfills