Study of mercury adsorption by selected Chinese coal fly ashes

• DOI: 10.1007/s10973-014-3657-y
• Publication Date: 2014-02-01T10:22:16Z
• Authors: Longchun Zhong; Yongsheng Zhang; Zhao Liu; Zifeng Sui; Yan Cao; Wei-Ping Pan
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy

Recent research has shown that fly ash produced in coal-fired power plants can play an important role in mercury removal. The aim of this study was to establish the relationships between fly ashes produced from different coals and boiler types and their mercury adsorption capacity. In order to achieve this objective, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and a mercury measurement system were employed to characterize the samples. The results show that the average pore size of fly ash is the single most important factor with residual carbon content fulfilling a secondary role in the capture of elemental mercury. The addition of HBr with fly ash can remarkably enhance the mercury adsorption performance of fly ash.