Skip to main content
Log in

Experimental study on fly ash capture mercury in flue gas

  • Published:
Science China Technological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Systematic experiments were conducted on a fixed-bed reactor to investigate the interaction between fly ash and mercury, the results implied that fly ash can capture mercury effectively. Among different fly ashes, the unburned carbon in the FA2 and FA3 fly ashes has the highest mercury capture capacity, up to 10.3 and 9.36 μg/g, respectively, which is close to that of commercial activated carbon. There is no obvious relationship between mercury content and carbon content or BET surface area of fly ash. Petrography classification standard was applied to distinguish fly ash carbon particles. Carbon content is not the only variable that controls mercury capture on fly ash, there are likely significant differences in the mercury capture capacities of the various carbon forms. Mercury capture capacity mainly depends on the content of anisotropy carbon particles with porous network structure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Seneviratne H R, Charpenteau C, George A, et al. Ranking low cost sorbents for mercury capture from simulated flue gases. Energy Fuels, 2007, 21: 3249–3258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhao Y, Sun X, Xu P, et al. Mechanism of flue gas simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification using the highly reactive absorbent. Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci, 2005, 48: 692–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hassett D J, Eylands K E. Mercury capture on coal combustion fly ash. Fuel, 1999, 78: 243–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dunham G E, DeWall R A, Senior C L. Fixed-bed studies of the interactions between mercury and coal combustion fly ash. Fuel Process Technol, 2003, 82: 197–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lopez-Anton M A, Diaz-Somoano M, Martinez-Tarazona M R. Retention of elemental mercury in fly ashes in different atmospheres. Energy Fuels, 2007, 21: 99–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Serre S D, Silcox G D. Adsorption of elemental mercury on the residual carbon in coal fly ash. Ind Eng Chem Res, 2000, 39: 723–1730

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hower J C, Mercedes Maroto-Valer M, Taulbee D N, et al. Mercury capture by distinct fly ash carbon forms. Energy Fuels, 2000, 14: 224–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Goodarzi F, Hower J C. Classification of carbon in Canadian fly ashes and their implications in the capture of mercury. Fuel, 2008, 87: 1949–1957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Galbreath K C, Zygarlicke C J. Mercury transformations in coal combustion flue gas. Fuel Process Technol, 2000, 65–66: 289–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chen L, Zhuo Y, Zhao X, et al. Thermodynamic comprehension of the effect of basic ash compositions on gaseous mercury transformation. Energy Fuels, 2007, 21: 501–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Chen X. Impacts of fly ash composition and flue gas components on mercury speciation. Master Thesis. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2007. 25

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ghorishi S B, Lee C W, Jozewicz W S, et al. Effects of fly ash transition metal content and flue gas HCl/SO2 ratio on mercury speciation in waste combustion. Environ Eng Sci, 2005, 22: 221–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zheng C, Liu J, Liu Z, et al. Kinetic mechanism studies on reactions of mercury and oxidizing species in coal combustion. Fuel, 2005, 84: 1215–1220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhao Y C. Partition mechanism and interaction of minerals and trace elelemnts during coal combustion (in Chinese). Doctoral Dissertation. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2008. 142

    Google Scholar 

  15. Suárez-Ruiz I, Hower J C, Thomas G A. Petrology and chemistry of fly ashes derived from the combustion of complex coal blends in Spanish power plants. In: AshTech 2006—International Conference on Coal Fired Power Station Ash. Birmingham, UK, 2006. 1–16.

  16. Hower J C, Suarez-Ruiz I, Mastalerz M. An approach toward a combined scheme for the petrographic classification of fly ash: Revision and clarification. Energy Fuels, 2005, 19: 653–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lopez-Anton M A, Abad-Valle P, Diaz-Somoano M, et al. The influence of carbon particle type in fly ashes on mercury adsorption. Fuel, 2009, 88: 1194–1200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Galbreath K C, Zygarlicke C J, Tibbetts J E, et al. Effects of NOx, α-Fe2O3, γ-Fe2O3, and HCl on mercury transformations in a 7-kW coal combustion system. Fuel Process Technol, 2005, 86: 429–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to JunYing Zhang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhao, Y., Zhang, J., Liu, J. et al. Experimental study on fly ash capture mercury in flue gas. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 53, 976–983 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-009-0367-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-009-0367-y

Keywords

Navigation