In order to make further progress in the field of reducing mercury emissions to the atmosphere it is necessary to develop efficient and economically viable technologies.Low-cost solid sorbents are a candidate technology for mercury capture. However, kinetic models are required to predict the adsorption mechanism and to optimize the design of the process. In this study, several low-cost materials (biomass chars) were evaluated for the removal of gas-phase elemental mercury and kinetic studies were performed to investigate the mechanism of mercury adsorption. These kinetic studies were also used to predict the behavior of a fixed bed column. The models applied were pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations, Fick´s intraparticle diffusion model and Yoon-Nelson´s model. The chars obtained from the gasification of plastic-paper waste demonstrated the best behaviour for mercury capture due to their high BET surface area, large total pore volume (mainly micropore volume) and high chlorine content. The Yoon-Nelson model provided a better fitting for the samples with low mercury retention capacities, while in the case of the plastic-paper chars all the models provided relatively accurate predictions because their highly microporous structure retarded the internal diffusion process and their increased chlorine content enhanced chemisorption on their surface.
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