CONTROL OF MERCURY AND OTHER VOLATILE TRACE METALS IN FOSSIL AND FUEL-FIRED POWER GENERATION

FOSSIL-FUEL FIRED POWER PLANTS ARE ONE OF THE LARGEST EMITTERS OF MERCURY INTO THE ENVIRONMENT. THE PRIMARY CONCERN WITH CURRENTLY AVAILABLE MERCURY CONTROL TECHNOLOGY IS THE RELATIVE INEFFECTIVENESS OF ACTIVATED CARBON AS A SORBENT FOR ELEMENTAL MERCURY. ANOTHER CONCERN IS THE RELEASE OF MERCURY INTO THE ENVIRONEMENT, AFTER THE MIXTURE OF THE ASH AND THE CONTAMINATED SORBENT IS LANDFILLED. IN THIS PROJECT THE FOCUS IS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROCESS TO REMOVE MERCURY FROM THE FLUE GASES AND ISOLATE IT. THE USE OF COST-EFFECTIVE REGENERABLE SORBENTS TO ACCOMPLISH THE ABOVE OBJECTIVE WILL BE EXAMINED. PHASE I WILL CONSIST OF AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE SORBENTS IN CAPTURING MERCURY VAPOR SPECIES FOR SHORT AND LONG SORBENT-FLUE GAS CONTACT TIME. IT WILL ALSO DETERMINE SORBENTREGENERATION CONDITIONS AND EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENES OF THE REGENERATED SORBENT. IN PHASE II,PILOT-SCALE TESTING WILL BE PERFORMED USING THE BEST SORBENTS IDENTIFIED IN PHASE I. THESE TESTS WILL PROVIDE REPRESENTATIVE DATA FOR THE ACTUALCONFIGURATION THAT MAY BE USED IN A FULL-SCALE APPLICATION.