Adsorption of Mercury with Modified Thief Carbons
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 3
Abstract
In this study, the adsorption performance of elemental mercury onto commercially produced Thief carbons (TCs) and TCs modified with ferric chloride and sodium chloride were investigated. The results indicate that the modifications of Thief carbons not only considerably enhanced their mercury sorption capacities but also change their mercury sorption mechanism. For example, modification of a Thief carbon with ferric chloride can increase its mercury sorption capacity from to (nearly a ten times increase), whereas reducing its surface area from to . Ferric chloride is a better modification agent than sodium chloride. Analyses of the sorption mechanism with different tools, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), indicate that physical sorption dominates raw Thief-carbons-based mercury sorption, whereas chemical sorption plays a much more important role in modified Thief-carbon-based mercury sorption. The reaction order and activation energy of ferric chloride modified Thief-carbon-based mercury chemisorption are 1 and , respectively.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Jupiter Oxygen, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming for their financial support. The authors would like thank Dr. Evan J. Granite in the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Dr. Khalid Omar in the Western Research Institute, and Mr. Daniel Jakob in the University of Management Centre Innsbruck in Austria for their various technical supports.
References
Apogee Scientific Inc. (2004). Assessment of low cost novel sorbents for coal-Fired power plant mercury control, Final Rep., 〈www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/835235-AL9b5h/native/835235.pdf〉 (Aug. 15, 2010).
Azhar Uddin, M. D., Yamada, T., Ryota, O., and Sasaoka, E. (2008). “Role of for elemental mercury removal from coal combustion flue gas by activated carbon.” Energy Fuels, 22(4), 2284–2289.
Bansal, R. C., Donnet, J. B., and Stoeckli, F. (1988). Active carbon, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Beckhoff, B., Kanngießer, B., Langhoff, N., Wedell, N. R., and Wolff, H. (2006). Handbook of practical X-ray fluorescence analysis, Springer, Berlin.
Brunauer, P., Emmett, H., and Teller, E. (1938). “Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 60(2), 309–319.
Davidson, M., and Clarke, L. B. (1996). “Trace elements in coal.” IEA Perspective Rep. IEAPR/21, International Energy Agency, Paris.
Hutson, N., Atwood, B., and Scheckel, K. (2007). “XAS and XPS characterization of mercury binding on brominated activated carbon.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 41(5), 1747–1752.
Janssens, K., et al. (2000). “Use of microscopic XRF for non-destructive analysis in art and archaeometry.” X-Ray Spectrom., 29(1), 73–91.
McCurdy, P. R., Sturgess, L. J., Kohli, S., and Fisher, E. R. (2004). “Investigation of the PECVD TiO2-Si(1 0 0) interface.” Appl. Surf. Sci., 233(1–4), 69–79.
Moulder, J. F., Stickle, W. F., Sobol, P. E., and Bomben, K. D. (1992). Handbook of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (Physical Electronics Division), Waltham, MA.
O’Dowd, W. J. et al. (2006). “A technique to control mercury from flue gas: The Thief Process.” Fuel Process. Technol., 87(12), 1071–1084.
Schofield, K. (2004). “Let them eat fish: Hold the mercury.” Chem. Phys. Lett., 386(1–3), 65–69.
Sloss, L. L. (1995). “Mercury emissions and effects: The role of coal.” IEAPER/ 19, IEA Coal Research, London.
Sun, W., Yan, N., and Jia, J. (2006). “Removal of elemental mercury in flue gas by brominated activated carbon.” China Environ. Sci., 26(3), 257–261.
Suzuki, E. (2002). “High-resolution scanning electron microscopy of immunogold-labelled cells by the use of thin plasma coating of osmium.” J. Microsc., 208(3), 153–157.
Tewalt, S. J., Bragg, L. J., and Finkelman, R. (2001). “Mercury in U.S. coal—abundance, distribution, and modes of occurrence.” 〈http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs095-01/fs095-01.pdf USGS Fact Sheet FS-095-01〉 (Jul. 18, 2010).
USEPA. (2005). “Clean air mercury rule.” 〈www.epa.gov/mercury〉 (Feb. 5, 2010).
Western Research Institute. (2006). “Removal of mercury from coal derived synthesis.” Final Rep. for Base Task 1.i Under DE-FC 26-98FT40322, 〈http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp;jsessionid=F76765B74E22C9EFB9255%20E5F5DEAB43%201?purl=/882283-IrdtNX/〉 (Jun. 16, 2010).
Yang, H., Xua, Z., Fan, M., Bland, A., and Judkins, R. (2007). “Adsorbents for capturing mercury in coal-fired boiler flue gas.” J. Hazard. Mater., 146(1–2), 1–11.
Zeng, H., Feng, J., and Guo, J. (2004). “Removal of elemental mercury from coal combustion flue gas by chloride-impregnated activated carbon.” Fuel, 83(1), 143–146.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 3 • March 2012
Pages: 386 - 391
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 16, 2011
Accepted: May 24, 2011
Published online: May 26, 2011
Published in print: Mar 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.