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Mercury in Biomass Feedstock and Combustion Residuals

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Abstract

An exploratory survey of the mercury content of some common California biomass feedstocks shows that the concentrations are well below EPA toxicity levels with representative feedstock concentrations of 20 ppb for rice straw, 28 ppb for wheat straw, and 32 ppb for whole-tree wood chips. The temporal variability for rice straw (17–20 ppb) is near the analytical uncertainty (∼2 ppb). Saline-irrigated feedstock does not contain greatly higher mercury contents (17–38 ppb) compared to normally irrigated feedstock. Water leaching has likewise no detectable effects on mercury mobility, despite an up to 30% increase in the Hg concentrations attributable to mass losses during leaching. Combustion at temperatures of at least 575°C results in complete volatilization of mercury leaving solid ash and slag residuals with mercury contents at or near the lower limit of detection (5 ppb). The mercury strongly concentrated in fly ash can reach concentrations up to 40 times (<1,166 ppb) the corresponding fuel concentrations.

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Acknowledgements

Sherry Blunk and Chao Wei Yu kindly gave us access to their samples and unpublished data for saline biomass. This study was in part supported by an instrument grant from the UC Davis-Chevron Joint Research Agreement that is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Peter Thy

  2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Bryan M. Jenkins

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  1. Peter Thy
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  2. Bryan M. Jenkins
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Correspondence to Peter Thy.

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Thy, P., Jenkins, B.M. Mercury in Biomass Feedstock and Combustion Residuals. Water Air Soil Pollut 209, 429–437 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0211-9

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