Abstract
Heavy metal pollutants such as Hg, As, Pb, Cr, and Cd emitted from coal and waste combustion have received widespread attention. In this study, we systematically investigated the emission characteristics of heavy metals in waste incineration and coal-fired flue gases, focused on testing the removal effect of self-made cold electrode electrostatic precipitator (CE-ESP) on heavy metals in flue gas, and made a comparative analysis with the existing air pollution control devices (APCDs). Test results from waste incineration power plant showed that each APCD showed a certain effect on the removal of heavy metals in condensable particulate matter (CPM), with an average removal efficiency of bag filter was 86%, but its effect on Hg removal was slightly worse. Under the coupled field with electrified cold electrode plate operation mode, the average removal efficiency of CE-ESP on heavy metals in CPM was as high as 93%, including 76% for Hg. The removal efficiency of heavy metals (especially Hg) in CPM increased with the increase of flue gas temperature difference between inlet and outlet of CE-ESP. Test results from this coal-fired power plant showed that heavy metals were enriched in fly ash to a higher degree than in slag, the synergistic control of heavy metals in submicron particulate matter by the dust remover was not obvious, and there was a significant correlation between each heavy metal emission factor and its content in coal. Under the temperature field with non-electric cold electrode plate operation mode, the overall effect of CE-ESP on the removal of gaseous heavy metals was better than that of particulate heavy metals. Under the conventional electric field operation mode, CE-ESP was less effective in removing particulate Cr and gaseous Hg0. Under the coupled field with electrified cold electrode plate operation mode, the average removal efficiencies of CE-ESP for particulate and gaseous heavy metals were 82.37% and 76.16%, respectively.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 3202029).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Bowen Zhao, Wenting Liu, Xin Wang and Jianyi Lu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Bowen Zhao and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Highlights
• We tested the removal effect of cold electrode electrostatic precipitator (CE-ESP) on particulate and gaseous heavy metals
• We compared and analyzed the removal of heavy metals in CPM by air pollution control devices (APCDs) and CE-ESP
• We set up different operation modes of CE-ESP and explored its optimal operation conditions
• We analyzed the action mechanism of CE-ESP on fine particulate matter and gaseous heavy metals
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Zhao, B., Liu, W., Wang, X. et al. Emission characteristics and removal of heavy metals in flue gas: a case study in waste incineration and coal-fired power plants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 8883–8897 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31678-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31678-z