Improved Sorbent for Removing Mercury from Hazardous Waste Incinerators

During this research project, TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) will develop a new, lower cost and more environmentally benign sorbent system to remove mercury from the flue gases produced by waste combustion incinerators. Current removal systems use dry sorbent injection of activated carbon, which is collected in the fabric filter for disposal. These systems have low capital costs because they use existing equipment to capture the mercury, but the use of carbon or modified carbon sorbents significantly increases the operating costs and raises serious safety and environmental issues. TDA has identified new dry injection sorbents for mercury abatement that promise higher performance and lower operating costs. The sorbents bind the mercury tightly to make the spent sorbent disposal more environmentally benign. During Phase I, TDA will prepare new sorbents and evaluate them to select the best formulation. The optimum operating conditions for the sorbent will be identified, and the impact of other flue gas components on its performance will be evaluated. Phase I also will include an engineering analysis to assess the cost of mercury removal with the new sorbent technology. The sorbents that TDA Research will develop to remove mercury from hazardous waste incinerators also could be applied to mercury abatement at coal-fired electric utilities. The market size is very large; such power plants account for 60 percent of the electric power generated in the United States. In addition, the same technology would be applicable to the much smaller area of mercury abatement in municipal waste incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities. These facilities are becoming more prevalent in the United States, and are particularly common in Europe, where trouble-prone carbon-packed beds now are used for mercury control.