Technical Bulletin No. 0851: Literature Review of Emissions of Mercury from Fossil Fuel and Biomass Combustion and Emerging Control Technologies

Further reductions in mercury emissions have become an EPA priority, with mercury emission standards under development for electric utility and industrial boilers. Regulations limiting mercury emissions from municipal waste and hazardous waste combustors, medical waste incinerators, and sewage sludge incinerators have already been issued. Coal combustion now represents the largest anthropogenic mercury emission source in the United States, and there are several major research efforts in progress to better understand the factors affecting mercury emissions from electric utility coal-fired boilers.