Are Mercury and Ozone Oxidation in Competition?

Mercury can enter the atmosphere in several different ways, but the anthropogenic process that generates the most mercury is coal combustion. Since the 1930's coal combustion has been the world's most widely used method of electricity generation, which has allowed mercury to enter the troposphere, and more recently the stratosphere. Prior to the restrictions placed upon the use of CFCs and HCFCs there was a noticeable ?hole? in the ozone layer. The work of Nobel Laureate Molina concluded that these long-lived CFCs and HCFCs were making their way to the stratosphere, catalytically forming halogen radicals via ice crystals in polar stratospheric clouds. Ozone destruction reactions occur readily in the presence of the halogen radicals created from this process and it has been found that mercury behaves in a similar manner. This study proposes that the oxidation mechanisms of ozone and mercury via halogen radicals could be competing with one another. An in-depth literature review has been carried out in addition to ab initio-based kinetic and thermodynamic calculations to provide knowledge regarding oxidation pathways of both ozone and mercury. Through a detailed analysis of kinetic and thermodynamic stability predictions, knowledge regarding the role of mercury in ozone depletion events is presented.