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The application of regenerable sorbents for mercury capture in gas phase

  • Global pollution problems, Trends in Detection and Protection
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Abstract

Mercury is a well-known toxic element, and flue gas streams emitted from coal-fired utilities are one of the largest anthropogenic sources of this element. This study briefly reviews the proposed technologies for reducing mercury emissions from coal combustion, focusing on an emerging process which involves the use of regenerable sorbents and especially those loaded with noble metals. Among the mercury species formed during coal combustion, elemental mercury is the most difficult to remove from the flue gases due to its low reactivity and insolubility in water. The widespread interest in using regenerable sorbents with metals is due to their ability to retain elemental mercury. With this technology, not only can efficiencies of 100 % be reached in the retention of elemental mercury but also a way to avoid the generation of new wastes loaded with mercury. This study considers the main aspects that must be taken into account when developing effective regenerable sorbents for mercury capture, with special attention to sorbents containing noble metals. The characteristics of this process are compared with those of other processes in a more advanced state of development.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support for this work was provided by the projects CTQ2014-58110-R and GRUPIN14-031. The authors thank PCTI Asturias for awarding N. Fernández Miranda a pre-doctoral fellowship.

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  1. Instituto Nacional del Carbón (CSIC), C/ Francisco Pintado Fe No. 26, 33011, Oviedo, Spain

    M. Antonia Lopez-Anton, Nuria Fernández-Miranda & M. Rosa Martínez-Tarazona

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  1. M. Antonia Lopez-Anton
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  2. Nuria Fernández-Miranda
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Correspondence to M. Antonia Lopez-Anton.

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Lopez-Anton, M.A., Fernández-Miranda, N. & Martínez-Tarazona, M.R. The application of regenerable sorbents for mercury capture in gas phase. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 24495–24503 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7534-z

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