IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v88y2016icp485-494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meeting Minamata: Cost-effective compliance options for atmospheric mercury control in Chinese coal-fired power plants

Author

Listed:
  • Ancora, Maria Pia
  • Zhang, Lei
  • Wang, Shuxiao
  • Schreifels, Jeremy J.
  • Hao, Jiming

Abstract

A new international treaty, Minamata Convention, identifies mercury (Hg) as a global threat to human health and seeks to control its releases and emissions. Coal-fired power plants are a major source of mercury pollution worldwide and are expected to be the first key sector to be addressed in China under Minamata Convention. A best available technique (BAT) adoption model was developed in the form of a decision tree and cost-effectiveness for each technological option. Co-benefit control technologies and their enhancement with coal blending/switching and halogen injection (HI) can provide early measures to help China meet the Minamata Convention obligations. We project future energy and policy scenarios to simulate potential national mercury reduction goals for China and estimate costs of the control measures for each scenario. The “Minamata Medium” scenario, equivalent to the goal of the US Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, requires the application of activated carbon injection (ACI) and HI on 30% and 20% of power plants, respectively. The corresponding total costs would be $2.5 billion, approximately one-fourth the costs in the US. An emission limit of 3µg/m3 in 2030 was identified as a feasible policy option for China to comply with Minamata Convention.

Suggested Citation

  • Ancora, Maria Pia & Zhang, Lei & Wang, Shuxiao & Schreifels, Jeremy J. & Hao, Jiming, 2016. "Meeting Minamata: Cost-effective compliance options for atmospheric mercury control in Chinese coal-fired power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 485-494.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:88:y:2016:i:c:p:485-494
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.10.048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515301750
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.10.048?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:pal:jintbs:v:46:y:2015:i:9:p:1119-1119 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Schreifels, Jeremy J. & Fu, Yale & Wilson, Elizabeth J., 2012. "Sulfur dioxide control in China: policy evolution during the 10th and 11th Five-year Plans and lessons for the future," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 779-789.
    3. Napolitano, Sam & Schreifels, Jeremy & Stevens, Gabrielle & Witt, Maggie & LaCount, Melanie & Forte, Reynaldo & Smith, Kenon, 2007. "The U.S. Acid Rain Program: Key Insights from the Design, Operation, and Assessment of a Cap-and-Trade Program," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(7), pages 47-58.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Sai & Song, Yan & Zhang, Ming, 2021. "Study on the sustainability evaluation and development path selection of China’s coal base from the perspective of spatial field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    2. Zhao, Haitao & Mu, Xueliang & Yang, Gang & George, Mike & Cao, Pengfei & Fanady, Billy & Rong, Siyu & Gao, Xiang & Wu, Tao, 2017. "Graphene-like MoS2 containing adsorbents for Hg0 capture at coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 254-264.
    3. Wang, Ke & Wang, Shanshan & Liu, Lei & Yue, Hui & Zhang, Ruiqin & Tang, Xiaoyan, 2016. "Environmental co-benefits of energy efficiency improvement in coal-fired power sector: A case study of Henan Province, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 810-819.
    4. Zaman, Rafia & Brudermann, Thomas & Kumar, S. & Islam, Nazrul, 2018. "A multi-criteria analysis of coal-based power generation in Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 182-192.
    5. Wu, Yunna & Xiao, Xinli & Song, Zongyun, 2017. "Competitiveness analysis of coal industry in China: A diamond model study," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 39-53.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2014. "Programs, Prices and Policies Towards Energy Conservation and Environmental Quality in China," Working Papers 249427, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    2. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2013. "Energy and Environmental Issues and Policy in China," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 162375, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Qian, Yuan & Scherer, Laura & Tukker, Arnold & Behrens, Paul, 2020. "China's potential SO2 emissions from coal by 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Zhang, Zibin & Yang, Wenxin & Ye, Jianliang, 2021. "Why sulfur dioxide emissions decline significantly from coal-fired power plants in China? Evidence from the desulfurated electricity pricing premium program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    5. Zhang, Yin-Fang & Gao, Ping, 2016. "Integrating environmental considerations into economic regulation of China's electricity sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 62-71.
    6. Shiyu Bo, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Political Incentives and Local Economic Activities: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 812-835, June.
    7. Qiu, Hua & Sha, Yezhou & Zhang, Yixing, 2024. "Energy affordability and subjective well-being in China: Causal inference, heterogeneity, and the mediating role of disaster risk," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Yifei Zhang & Sheng Li & Fang Zhang, 2020. "Does an Emissions Trading Policy Improve Environmental Efficiency? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Xi Chen & Zhigang Chen, 2021. "Can China’s Environmental Regulations Effectively Reduce Pollution Emissions?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-17, April.
    10. Pengguo Zhao & Jia Liu & Yu Luo & Xiuting Wang & Bolan Li & Hui Xiao & Yunjun Zhou, 2019. "Comparative Analysis of Long-Term Variation Characteristics of SO 2 , NO 2 , and O 3 in the Ecological and Economic Zones of the Western Sichuan Plateau, Southwest China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-19, September.
    11. Genia Kostka, 2016. "Command without control: The case of China's environmental target system," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 58-74, March.
    12. Lan, Jing & Wei, Yiming & Guo, Jie & Li, Qiuming & Liu, Zhen, 2023. "The effect of green finance on industrial pollution emissions: Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Hongshan Ai & Xiaoqing Tan & Zhen Xia, 2022. "RETRACTED: The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Medical Expenses: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Kostka, Genia, 2013. "China's evolving green planning system: Are targets the answer?," Frankfurt School - Working Paper Series 201, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
    15. Zhou, Di & Yin, Xiaoshuo & Xie, Dongchun, 2023. "Local governments’ environmental targets and green total factor productivity in Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Rahman, Muhammad Habibur, 2020. "Healthy air, healthy mom: Experimental evidence from Chinese power plants," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Farley, Joshua, 2012. "Ecosystem services: The economics debate," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 40-49.
    18. Munnings, Clayton & Morgenstern, Richard D. & Wang, Zhongmin & Liu, Xu, 2016. "Assessing the design of three carbon trading pilot programs in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 688-699.
    19. Munnings, Clayton & Morgenstern, Richard & Wang, Zhongmin & Liu, Xu, 2014. "Assessing the Design of Three Pilot Programs for Carbon Trading in China," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-36, Resources for the Future.
    20. Ma, Teng & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2017. "Technology choice for reducing NOx emissions: An empirical study of Chinese power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 362-376.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:88:y:2016:i:c:p:485-494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.