Development of a Novel Activated Carbon Based Adsorbents for control of Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants

The overall objective of this study is to evaluate pertinent design and operational parameters that would enable successful application of activated carbon adsorption for the reduction of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The study will evaluate the most suitable impregnate such as sulfur, chloride and other chelating agents for its ability to enhance the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon for mercury vapor under various process conditions. The main process variables to be evaluated include temperature, mercury concentration and speciation, relative humidity, oxygen content, and presence of S0{sub 2} and NO{sub x} in the flue gas. The optimal amount of impregnate for each of these carbons will be determined based on the exhibited performance. Another important parameter which governs the applicability of adsorption technology for the flue gas clean up is the rate at which vapor phase mercury is being removed from the flue gas by activated carbon. Therefore, the second part of this study will evaluate the adsorption kinetics using the impregnated activated carbons listed above. The rate of mercury uptake will also be evaluated under the process conditions that are representative of coal-fired power plants. Concerned with the ability of the adsorbed mercury to migrate back into the environment once saturated adsorbent is removed from the system, the study will also focus on the mercury desorption rate as a function of the type of impregnate, loading conditions, and the time of contact prior to disposal