Atmospheric mercury in a developed region of eastern China: Interannual variation and gas-particle partitioning

Cheng Chen; Xiaofei Qin; Hao Li; Haiyan Li; Chengfeng Liu; Mengxin Fu; Xiaohao Wang; Juntao Huo; Yusen Duan; Qingyan Fu; Kan Huang; Congrui Deng

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19786

Atmospheric mercury in a developed region of eastern China: Interannual variation and gas-particle partitioning

Heliyon. 2023 Sep 21;9(10):e19786. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19786. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Cheng Chen¹, Xiaofei Qin², Hao Li¹, Haiyan Li¹, Chengfeng Liu¹, Mengxin Fu¹, Xiaohao Wang³, Juntao Huo³, Yusen Duan³, Qingyan Fu³, Kan Huang¹, Congrui Deng^{1

4

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Affiliations

¹ Center for Atmospheric Chemistry Study, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
² School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266520, China.
³ State Ecologic Environmental Scientific Observation and Research Station for Dianshan Lake, Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center, Shanghai, 200030, China.
⁴ IRDR ICoE on Risk Interconnectivity and Governance on Weather/Climate Extremes Impact and Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
⁵ Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), Shanghai, 202162, China.

Abstract

Atmospheric mercury plays a crucial role in the biogeochemical cycle of mercury. This study conducted an intensive measurement of atmospheric mercury from 2015 to 2018 at a regional site in eastern China. During this period, the concentration of particle-bound mercury (PBM) decreased by 13%, which was much lower than those of gaseous elemenral mercury (GEM, 30%) and reactive gaseous mercury (GOM, 62%). The gradual decrease in the correlation between PBM and CO, K, and Pb indicates that the influence of primary emissions on PBM concentration was weakening. Moreover, the value of the partitioning coefficient (Kp) increased gradually from 0.05 ± 0.076 m³/μg in 2015 to 0.16 ± 0.37 m³/μg in 2018, indicating that GOM was increasingly inclined to adsorb onto particulate matter. Excluding the influence of meteorological conditions and the primary emissions, the change in aerosol composition is designated as the main trigger factor for the increasing gas-particle partitioning of reactive mercury (RM). The increasing ratio of Cl^-, NO₃^-, and organics (Org) in the chemical composition of particle matters (PM_2.5), as well as the decrease in the proportion of SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺, and K⁺, are conducive to the adsorption of GOM onto particles, forming PBM, which led to an increase of Kp and a lag of PBM reduction compared to GEM and GOM under the continuous control measures of anthropogenic mercury emissions. The evolution of aerosol compositions in recent years affects the migration and transformation of atmospheric mercury, which in turn can affect the biogeochemical cycle of mercury.

Keywords: Aerosol composition; Atmospheric mercury; Gas-particle partitioning.