Novel Process for Removal and Recovery of Vapor-Phase Mercury

摘要

The purpose of this project is to investigate the application of a sorbent- based process for removing and recovering mercury in the flue gas of coal-fired power plants. The process is based on the sorption of mercury by noble metals and the regeneration of the sorbent by thermal means, recovering the desorbed mercury as liquid, elemental mercury. ADA Technologies holds a patent on this process (US 5,409,522, April 25, 1995) and has tested it under conditions typical of municipal waste incinerators. In this process, the noble metal sorbent is regenerated thermally, and the mercury is recovered for commercial recycle. Consequently, ADA has adopted the name 'Mercu-RE' to describe its process. In the current project, ADA has been testing its process under conditions typical of coal-fired power plants where the mercury concentration is low (below 10 p g/M(sup 3)) and little pressure drop can be tolerated. Methods of accommodating the Mercu-RE process to the circumstances and conditions of coal-fired power plants comprise the core of the program.