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Chalmers team develops method to reduce levels of mercury in sulfuric acid

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Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method that can reduce the levels of mercury in sulfuric acid by more than 90%, even from low levels. It is therefore a worldwide challenge that sulfuric acid often contains one of the most toxic substances: mercury.

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EPA proposing mercury rule for taconite iron ore processing plants

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for taconite iron ore processing plants that include new emission standards for mercury as well as revising the existing emission standards for hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride. formaldehyde).

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Nations agree on global, legally binding treaty on mercury emissions: Minamata Convention on Mercury

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At the conclusion of the International Negotiating Committee on Mercury ( INC5 ) meeting in Geneva ( earlier post ), nations agreed on a global, legally-binding treaty to prevent mercury emissions and releases. The scope of the new treaty which puts in controls and also reduction measures in respect to mercury is as follows: Products.

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U.N. Kills Any Plans to Use Mercury as a Rocket Propellant

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A recent United Nations provision has banned the use of mercury in spacecraft propellant. Although no private company has actually used mercury propellant in a launched spacecraft, the possibility was alarming enough—and the dangers extreme enough—that the ban was enacted just a few years after one U.S.-based Mercury is a neurotoxin.

Mercury 100
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New analysis finds Asia produces twice as much mercury emissions as previously thought

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New analysis by an international team led by MIT researchers shows that Asia now releases a surprisingly large amount of anthropogenic mercury. The new analysis provides more accurate estimates of sources of mercury emissions around the world. The team’s top-down analysis improves on other models that take a bottom-up approach.

Mercury 150
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Upper atmosphere facilitates changes that let mercury enter food chain

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New research shows that the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere work to transform elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which can easily be deposited into aquatic ecosystems and ultimately enter the food chain. Exposures to mercury can affect the human nervous system and harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system.

Mercury 210
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EPA issues first National Standards for mercury and air toxics pollution from power plants

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), the first national standards for power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants (also known as hazardous air pollutants, HAPs) such as arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide. fossil-fuel-fired power plants.

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