Sulphite measurement and its influence on Hg behaviour in wet-limestone flue-gas desulphurization

The most abundant and typical reducing agent for oxidized mercury in the slurry of wet flue-gas desulphurization (FGD) is the absorbed sulphur dioxide (SO2), which is present as different species of bisulphite or sulphite, depending on the pH of the slurry. In this study, two different measurement principles for continuous sulphite measurement in the slurry of lab-scale FGD were investigated to check their feasibility to be implemented in a wet FGD. The first method is based on light absorbance at the characteristic wavelength of sulphite measurement using a spectrophotometer and, in the second method, sulphite is measured as sulphur dioxide using a gas sensor. In addition, the correlation of sulphite concentration and mercury (Hg) in the slurry can be shown by measuring sulphite semi-continuously. It was concluded that using a spectrophotometer leads to distorted results. In contrast, measuring sulphite as SO2 in the gas phase proved to be more selective. The implementation of the measurement technique in the lab-scale FGD showed promising results for sulphite measurement. Thus, the correlation of Hg and sulphite concentration could be shown at different synthetic slurries containing different halides. Using a slurry without halides demonstrated the ambivalent influence of sulphite in reactions involving Hg, in which sulphite acts as a ligand for Hg complexes as well as a reducing agent, depending on the existing concentration. However, in the presence of halides, the role of sulphite was less significant.