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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) partnership area “Mercury releases from coal combustion” (The UNEP Coal Partnership) has initiated demonstrations of mercury air emission reduction at two coal-fired power plants in Russia. The first project has modified the wet particulate matter (PM) scrubber installed in Toliatti thermal plant to allow for addition of chemical reagents (oxidants) into the closedloop liquid spray system. The addition of oxidant resulted in significant improvement of mercury capture from 20% total mercury removal (without the additive) up to 60% removal (with the additive). It demonstrates the effectiveness of sorbent injection technologies in conjunction with an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). ESPs are installed at 60%, while wet PM scrubbers are installed at 30% of total coal-fired capacity in Russia. Thus, the two UNEP Coal Partnership projects address the majority of PM emission control configurations occurring in Russia.

The UNEP coal combustion partnership area has been established to contribute to significantly reduce global mercury emissions mainly though existing multi-pollutant reduction approaches. As part of this, the partnership area has been assisting participating governments in developing mercury inventories and providing technically sound information on cost effective approaches for enhancing reductions of mercury emissions. Guidance material has been produced for developing nations and countries with economies in transition. Activities are ongoing in China, India, Russia and South Africa, and new projects are being planned in Southeast Asia.