Mercury capture by native fly ash carbons in coal-fired power plants

James C. Hower; Constance L. Senior; Eric M. Suuberg; Robert H. Hurt; Jennifer L. Wilcox; Edwin S. Olson

doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2009.12.003

Mercury capture by native fly ash carbons in coal-fired power plants

James C. Hower, Constance L. Senior, Eric M. Suuberg, Robert H. Hurt, Jennifer L. Wilcox, Edwin S. Olson

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

257 Scopus citations

Abstract

The control of mercury in the air emissions from coal-fired power plants is an ongoing challenge. The native unburned carbons in fly ash can capture varying amounts of Hg depending upon the temperature and composition of the flue gas at the air pollution control device, with Hg capture increasing with a decrease in temperature; the amount of carbon in the fly ash, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in carbon; and the form of the carbon and the consequent surface area of the carbon, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in surface area. The latter is influenced by the rank of the feed coal, with carbons derived from the combustion of low-rank coals having a greater surface area than carbons from bituminous- and anthracite-rank coals. The chemistry of the feed coal and the resulting composition of the flue gas enhances Hg capture by fly ash carbons. This is particularly evident in the correlation of feed coal Cl content to Hg oxidation to HgCl₂, enhancing Hg capture. Acid gases, including HCl and H₂SO₂ (at small concentrations) and the combination of HC1 and NO₂, in the flue gas can enhance the oxidation of Hg. In this presentation, we discuss the transport of Hg through the boiler and pollution-control systems, the mechanisms of Hg oxidation, and the parameters controlling Hg capture by coal-derived fly ash carbons.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	510-529
Number of pages	20
Journal	Progress in Energy and Combustion Science
Volume	36
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2009.12.003
State	Published - Aug 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through grant ENE2007-63641 is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support for T. García-Armingol was provided by CSIC (Spanish National Research Council, Spanish Ministry of Science and Education) through grant JAEPre_076. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of other current and past members of the research group (R. Hernández, A. Sanz, R. Ichaso, M.A. González, J. Barroso, A. Pina and A. Smolarz) to several of the studies mentioned here as well as the help of S. Lipari with the editing of some parts of this work. We are most grateful to many other authors for granting permission to use their work and for providing original illustrations.

Keywords

Coal
Fly ash
Mercury
Pollution control
Unburned carbon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemical Engineering
Fuel Technology
Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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10.1016/j.pecs.2009.12.003

Cite this

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title = "Mercury capture by native fly ash carbons in coal-fired power plants",

abstract = "The control of mercury in the air emissions from coal-fired power plants is an ongoing challenge. The native unburned carbons in fly ash can capture varying amounts of Hg depending upon the temperature and composition of the flue gas at the air pollution control device, with Hg capture increasing with a decrease in temperature; the amount of carbon in the fly ash, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in carbon; and the form of the carbon and the consequent surface area of the carbon, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in surface area. The latter is influenced by the rank of the feed coal, with carbons derived from the combustion of low-rank coals having a greater surface area than carbons from bituminous- and anthracite-rank coals. The chemistry of the feed coal and the resulting composition of the flue gas enhances Hg capture by fly ash carbons. This is particularly evident in the correlation of feed coal Cl content to Hg oxidation to HgCl2, enhancing Hg capture. Acid gases, including HCl and H2SO2 (at small concentrations) and the combination of HC1 and NO2, in the flue gas can enhance the oxidation of Hg. In this presentation, we discuss the transport of Hg through the boiler and pollution-control systems, the mechanisms of Hg oxidation, and the parameters controlling Hg capture by coal-derived fly ash carbons.",

keywords = "Coal, Fly ash, Mercury, Pollution control, Unburned carbon",

author = "Hower, {James C.} and Senior, {Constance L.} and Suuberg, {Eric M.} and Hurt, {Robert H.} and Wilcox, {Jennifer L.} and Olson, {Edwin S.}",

note = "Funding Information: The support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through grant ENE2007-63641 is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support for T. Garc{\'i}a-Armingol was provided by CSIC (Spanish National Research Council, Spanish Ministry of Science and Education) through grant JAEPre_076. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of other current and past members of the research group (R. Hern{\'a}ndez, A. Sanz, R. Ichaso, M.A. Gonz{\'a}lez, J. Barroso, A. Pina and A. Smolarz) to several of the studies mentioned here as well as the help of S. Lipari with the editing of some parts of this work. We are most grateful to many other authors for granting permission to use their work and for providing original illustrations.",

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language = "English",

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T1 - Mercury capture by native fly ash carbons in coal-fired power plants

AU - Hower, James C.

AU - Senior, Constance L.

AU - Suuberg, Eric M.

AU - Hurt, Robert H.

AU - Wilcox, Jennifer L.

AU - Olson, Edwin S.

N1 - Funding Information: The support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through grant ENE2007-63641 is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support for T. García-Armingol was provided by CSIC (Spanish National Research Council, Spanish Ministry of Science and Education) through grant JAEPre_076. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of other current and past members of the research group (R. Hernández, A. Sanz, R. Ichaso, M.A. González, J. Barroso, A. Pina and A. Smolarz) to several of the studies mentioned here as well as the help of S. Lipari with the editing of some parts of this work. We are most grateful to many other authors for granting permission to use their work and for providing original illustrations.

PY - 2010/8

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N2 - The control of mercury in the air emissions from coal-fired power plants is an ongoing challenge. The native unburned carbons in fly ash can capture varying amounts of Hg depending upon the temperature and composition of the flue gas at the air pollution control device, with Hg capture increasing with a decrease in temperature; the amount of carbon in the fly ash, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in carbon; and the form of the carbon and the consequent surface area of the carbon, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in surface area. The latter is influenced by the rank of the feed coal, with carbons derived from the combustion of low-rank coals having a greater surface area than carbons from bituminous- and anthracite-rank coals. The chemistry of the feed coal and the resulting composition of the flue gas enhances Hg capture by fly ash carbons. This is particularly evident in the correlation of feed coal Cl content to Hg oxidation to HgCl2, enhancing Hg capture. Acid gases, including HCl and H2SO2 (at small concentrations) and the combination of HC1 and NO2, in the flue gas can enhance the oxidation of Hg. In this presentation, we discuss the transport of Hg through the boiler and pollution-control systems, the mechanisms of Hg oxidation, and the parameters controlling Hg capture by coal-derived fly ash carbons.

AB - The control of mercury in the air emissions from coal-fired power plants is an ongoing challenge. The native unburned carbons in fly ash can capture varying amounts of Hg depending upon the temperature and composition of the flue gas at the air pollution control device, with Hg capture increasing with a decrease in temperature; the amount of carbon in the fly ash, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in carbon; and the form of the carbon and the consequent surface area of the carbon, with Hg capture increasing with an increase in surface area. The latter is influenced by the rank of the feed coal, with carbons derived from the combustion of low-rank coals having a greater surface area than carbons from bituminous- and anthracite-rank coals. The chemistry of the feed coal and the resulting composition of the flue gas enhances Hg capture by fly ash carbons. This is particularly evident in the correlation of feed coal Cl content to Hg oxidation to HgCl2, enhancing Hg capture. Acid gases, including HCl and H2SO2 (at small concentrations) and the combination of HC1 and NO2, in the flue gas can enhance the oxidation of Hg. In this presentation, we discuss the transport of Hg through the boiler and pollution-control systems, the mechanisms of Hg oxidation, and the parameters controlling Hg capture by coal-derived fly ash carbons.

KW - Coal

KW - Fly ash

KW - Mercury

KW - Pollution control

KW - Unburned carbon

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DO - 10.1016/j.pecs.2009.12.003

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VL - 36

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EP - 529

JO - Progress in Energy and Combustion Science

JF - Progress in Energy and Combustion Science

IS - 4

ER -

Mercury capture by native fly ash carbons in coal-fired power plants

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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