Research on the Correlation between Mercury and Sulfur Content in Coals

Abstract

To reduce mercury emission in the flue gas at coal-fired power plant, it is very important and meaningful to research the mercury content and the existing status of other elements in coal. In this paper, mercury and sulfur content including their relevant relations of existing speciations from five coal samples were studied. Experimental method was based on U.S. EPA Method 7471 and experimental apparatus was automatic mercury analysis system Hydra AA. The results showed that in these 5 coal samples, the range of mercury content was from 0.284μg/g to 0.663μg/g and the average content was 0.401μg/g. The range of sulfur content was from 0.688% to 5.546% and the average content was 2.30% . The existing status of mercury and sulfur in coal was very complex. Under normal circumstances, when there was high sulfur content in coal, there was also high mercury content. However, the low sulfur coal may be of high mercury content.