Literature review on atmospheric emissions and associated environmental effects from conventional thermal electricity generation Prepared for: Clean Air Strategic Alliance Electricity Project Team Prepared by: Heidi Swanson March 12, 2008 Table of Contents 1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Objective and summary of literature review....................................................... 4 1.2 Literature search methodology ........................................................................... 4 1.2.1 Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles.................................................................. 4 1.2.2 Grey Literature Reports .............................................................................. 5 1.3 Organization of the literature review document ................................................. 6 1.4 Summary of findings and key studies................................................................. 7 1.4.1 Mercury....................................................................................................... 7 1.4.2 Sulphur dioxide........................................................................................... 8 1.4.3 Nitrogen oxides........................................................................................... 9 1.4.4 Particulate matter ........................................................................................ 9 1.4.5 List 2 substances (PAHs, particulate matter, trace metals, benzene, fluoride/fluoric acid, hydrochloric acid)................................................................... 10 2 Priority substances .................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Mercury............................................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 Emissions, atmospheric deposition, and modeling................................... 13 2.1.2 Environmental effects and biomonitoring ................................................ 29 2.1.3 Regulation, policy, and reduction technologies........................................ 38 2.2 Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides ................................................................ 47 2.2.1 Emissions, atmospheric deposition, and modeling................................... 47 2.2.2 Environmental effects and biomonitoring ................................................ 52 2.2.2.1 Acidification ......................................................................................... 54 2.2.2.2 Nitrogen saturation and eutrophication................................................. 58 2.2.3 Regulation, policy, and abatement technologies....................................... 67 2.3 Particulate matter .............................................................................................. 72 2.3.1 Emissions, atmospheric deposition, and modeling................................... 72 2.3.2 Environmental effects and biomonitoring ................................................ 81 2.3.3 Regulation, policy, and abatement technologies....................................... 82 2.4 Carbon dioxide.................................................................................................. 84 2.4.1 Emissions, regulation, policy, and reduction technologies....................... 84 2.5 Multiple pollutant studies ................................................................................. 88 2.5.1 Emissions, atmospheric deposition and modelling................................... 88 2.5.2 Environmental effects and biomonitoring .............................................. 105 2.5.3 Regulations, guidelines, and abatement technologies............................. 112 3 List 2 Substances..................................................................................................... 117 3.1 Emissions, atmospheric deposition, and modeling......................................... 117 3.1.1 Trace metals............................................................................................ 117 3.1.2 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)............................................. 132 3.1.3 Dioxins and furans.................................................................................. 140 3.1.4 Fluoride................................................................................................... 143 3.1.5 Hydrogen chloride .................................................................................. 144 3.1.6 Radionuclides.......................................................................................... 145 3.2 Envionmental effects, ecotoxicity, and biomonitoring................................... 149 3.2.1 Trace metals............................................................................................ 149 2 3.2.2 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.......................................................... 159 3.2.3 Dioxins and furans.................................................................................. 164 3.2.4 Fluoride................................................................................................... 164 3.2.5 Radionuclides.......................................................................................... 167 3.3 Regulations, policies, and abatement tecnologies........................................... 168 4 Additional references on emissions........................................................................ 170 4.1 Primary publications....................................................................................... 170 4.2 Grey literature................................................................................................. 187 3 1 Introduction 1.1 Objective and summary of literature review The objective of this review is to report on recent research (published since January 2002) that addresses: 1) atmospheric emissions from thermal electricity generation; and, 2) the direct and indirect environmental effects of these emissions. As well, published changes in environmental standards, guidelines, and emissions abatement technology are presented. This information will be used by CASA (Clean Air Strategic Alliance) as part of a five-year review of the Air Emissions Management Framework that was published in November 2003. Although all of the abstracts presented in this report were screened for relevance, no attempt was made to critically evaluate the quality of the science. Some of the papers included in the report are quite broad in scope (e.g., include pollutant sources other than thermal electricity). In these cases, an attempt was made to highlight relvant portions of the abstracts in italics. The vast majority of papers published on thermal electricity generation since 2002 have been focused on pollutant reduction, pollutant monitoring, and regulatory evaluations. There has been considerable emphasis on research related to mercury emissions and abatement. Recent studies on direct and indirect environmental effects of air emissions from thermal electricity generation were primarily limited to local and regional studies (especially in eastern Europe and Greece) and to toxicity research on some List 2 substances. This was true regardless of the database or search engine employed (e.g., Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Google Scholar, Science Direct). For certain pollutants, especially for particulate matter and PAHs, recent research was primarily directed toward human health effects; these abstracts were screened out of this report. Further investigation revealed that the bulk of research projects relating to environmental effects of thermal electricity generation were published between 1985 and 1999, and that these findings appear to be so well-documented that focus has now shifted to pollutant reduction. As such, part of this review is focused on technology and standard/guideline changes that have evolved since 2002. Many researchers are now conducting “life cycle” emissions studies, where the total emissions of electricity generation (including upstream processes such as mining and fuel transport) are accounted for and evaluated in economic and environmental terms. No attempt was made to search for new or “emerging” pollutants from thermal electricity generation. Despite this, a number of studies on radionuclide emissions were encountered during the course of the review; these are included in the section that presents results for List 2 substances. 1.2 Literature search methodology 1.2.1 Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles There are many search engines and databases available for searching peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. For environmental research, Scopus, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, and Web of Science are among the most popular search engines. To test the effectiveness of various search engines and databases within search engines, fixed sequences of Boolean operators (e.g., air emission* AND environ* effect* AND (thermal electric* OR coal-fired power plant* OR power plant*) were entered into the “advanced search” window of a variety of different search engine/database combinations. Results were evaluated for number of hits, relevance, ease of follow-on searching (e.g., linked cited reference search, related articles), and export options to reference software. The “biological sciences” database within Cambridge Scientific Abstracts was chosen as the primary vehicle for