Silver impregnated carbon for adsorption and desorption of elementalmercury vapors
Despina Karatza , Marina Prisciandaro , Amedeo Lancia , Dino Musmarra
DOI:
Received July 06, 2010,Revised April 12, 2011, Accepted , Available online
Volume 23,2011,Pages 1578-1584
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The Hg0 vapor adsorption experimental results on a novel sorbent obtained by impregnating a commercially available activated
carbon (Darco G60 from BDH) with silver nitrate were reported. The study was performed by using a fundamental approach, in an
apparatus at laboratory scale in which a synthetic flue gas, formed by Hg0 vapors in a nitrogen gas stream, at a given temperature
and mercury concentration, was flowed through a fixed bed of adsorbent material. Breakthrough curves and adsorption isotherms were
obtained for bed temperatures of 90, 120 and 150°C and for Hg0 concentrations in the gas varying in the range of 0.8–5.0 mg/m3. The
experimental gas-solid equilibrium data were used to evaluate the Langmuir parameters and the heat of adsorption. The experimental
results showed that silver impregnated carbon was very effective to capture elemental mercury and the amount of mercury adsorbed by
the carbon decreased as the bed temperature increased. In addition, to evaluate the possibility of adsorbent recovery, desorption was
also studied. Desorption runs showed that both the adsorbing material and the mercury could be easily recovered, since at the end of
desorption the residue on solid was almost negligible. The material balance on mercury and the constitutive equations of the adsorption
phenomenon were integrated, leading to the evaluation of only one kinetic parameter which fits well both the experimentally determined
breakthrough and desorption curves.
