In the work, sulfur-containing
sorbents were employed to remove
elemental mercury (Hg0) from coal-fired flue gas. The work
used the thermogravimetric analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy,
X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterize
the physicochemical properties of the sorbents. The Hg0 removal performance of these used sorbents from the simulated coal-fired
flue gas was evaluated by a bench-scale fixed-bed reactor. The results
indicated that a generous amount of elemental sulfur covered the surface
and pore structure of the used sorbent. With the rise of H2S selective oxidation temperature, both the sulfur content and specific
surface area decreased rapidly. Used-Fe/SC120 could achieve the mercury removal
efficiency of above 90% at 90 °C. The high temperature was not
conducive to the mercury capture due to the release of surface elemental
sulfur. The presence of O2 and SO2 inhibited
Hg0 removal in different degrees because of the decreased
active sulfur sites and competitive adsorption. Meanwhile, NO promoted
the Hg0 removal efficiency by enhancing the Hg0 oxidation. The further
analysis showed that the surface elemental sulfur was vital to capture
the Hg0 from coal-fired flue gas, which reacted with Hg0 to form HgS.
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