AU2002228478A1

AU2002228478A1 - A method for the removal of mercury from a gas stream

Info

Publication number: AU2002228478A1
Application number: AU2002228478A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Joseph Jan Peter Biermann; Nicolaas Voogt
Original assignee: CDEM Holland BV
Current assignee: CDEM Holland BV
Priority date: 2001-01-26
Filing date: 2002-01-23
Publication date: 2003-02-06
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-23

Description

A method for the removal of mercury from a gas stream

The present invention relates to a method for the removal of mercury from a gas stream. The invention re^¬ lates also to a sorbent comprising sorbed mercury. The invention also relates to a moulded object obtained with such a sorbent.

As already known, mercury is very harmful to the environment, even in low concentrationsConsequently, there is a need for a suitable method for removing mercury from a gas stream. Such methods are known in the art. In this respect it is important to discriminate between metallic mercury and ionogenic mercury. Both components are present in the gas stream from incineration processes involving mercury-containing materials.

In practice, the removal of metallic mercury from such a gas stream has been shown to be especially difficult. In particular for the removal of metallic mercury, the general practice is to use activated carbon, whereby the mercury is effectively adsorbed on the solid phase of the activated carbon. This known method, however, has a considerable drawback. In order to achieve acceptable removal percentages, it is necessary for the sorption on activated carbon to be carried out at a relatively low temperature. Especially if the gases to be cleaned have a high temperature, for example, if they originate from an incineration process, the gas must first be cooled before it is contacted with the activated carbon, allowing sorption to take place and finally, their temperature has to be raised again for a subsequent treatment or before discharge into the air. Naturally this requires much energy. For cooling purposes, water is sometimes injected into the gas stream, which may, moreover, give rise to corrosion problems. Another drawback is that the mercury-comprising carbon has to be disposed off to, in general, a controlled landfill site. Reuse of the material is hardly possible. A further additional drawback of the use of activated carbon is that the fly-ash from the incineration process are polluted with undesirable amounts of carbon, negatively influencing the quality of the fly-ash and se- riously impeding the recycling of these polluted fly ashes in, for example, the cement industry.

A need therefore exists for an improved method for the removal of mercury, and preferably of metallic mercury, from gas streams. The characteristics particular to mercury are a complicating factor to this problem. At low temperatures it is liquid, it is very volatile and has a very low dew point.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide an improved method, by which mercury of both the ionogenic and the metallic type can be sorbed at high temperatures, for example, at a temperature above 170°C.

The temperature values mentioned below are temperature values that have been corrected with respect to the values mentioned in the priority document. The origi- nally mentioned values were incorrect due to measurement deviations and where relevant, are placed in parenthesis below.

Preferably the temperature is higher than 230°C [300] , especially higher than 300°C [500] , more preferably higher than 450°C [700] , more preferably still higher than 550°C [800] . The object of the invention is in particular to provide a method by which mercury can be sorbed in such a manner that the mercury-comprising sorbent is re-usable. The sorbent according to the invention is understood to be a solid substance.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a method by which mercury of both the ionogenic as well as the metallic type can be removed substantially completely from a gas stream. In order to achieve at least one of the above- mentioned objectives, the invention provides a method as mentioned in the preamble, which is characterized in that at a temperature above 170°C, the gas stream is contacted with a sorbent that as the active component is comprised of a mixture of mainly silica-alumina compounds and/or calcium compounds .

According to a first preferred embodiment, the sorbent comprises kaolin, that may or may not be in the dehydrated form of meta-kaolin. According to a further preferred embodiment, the sorbent comprises calcium carbonate and/or calcium oxide. The calcium fraction of the sorbent typically consists of 60 - 70% of calcium carbon- ate and 40 - 30% of calcium oxide. The sorbent may also contain calcium hydroxide. The presence of calcium hydroxide does not improve the sorbent' s efficienccy further. Typically, the amount of Ca(OH)₂ is less than 10% by weight . According to another preferred embodiment, the sorbent is obtained by the thermal conversion of a material chosen from 1. paper waste and 2. residue from the paper production.

By means of such a sorbent the mercury is sorbed chemically, so that in order to remove the mercury, the hot gas streams may be contacted with the sorbent without prior cooling. This results in a considerable saving of energy and has advantages with regard to the installation. According to the invention, the temperature of the gas stream is at least 170°C, preferably at least

230°C [300], especially at least 300°C [500], more preferably at least 450°C [700], still more preferably at least 550°C [800] . Raising the temperature results in an improved sorption of the mercury. By appropriately choosing the amount of sorbent, it becomes possible to reduce the mercury content in the gas stream to below the legal requirements.

In order to further improve the removal of mercury from a gas stream, the sorbent and/or the mercury- containing gas stream is contacted with an oxidator chosen from, for example, sulphate compounds, peroxide, and chlorine compounds. The oxidator is preferably a hypochlorite, for example, calcium hypochlorite (Ca(C10)₂). The oxidator may be added to the sorbent prior to adding the sorbent to the gas stream to be scrubbed. Surprisingly, when the sorbent is heated together with the oxidator, the sorbent is shown to have an enhanced effect. This enhanced effect is maintained even after the remaining oxidator has been removed. In this manner, it is thus possible to produce a further improved sorbent.

The oxidator may be added to the sorbent prior to the introduction of the sorbent into the gas stream. The oxidator may also be added to the mercury-containing gas stream preceding the sorbent or at the position of the sorbent. Suitable oxidators already present in the flue gases from mercury-emitting incineration processes may have a similar improved effect, so that none or fewer of these compounds need to be added to the waste gas stream. Reference is made to the German patent publication DE-A 4 339 777. This publication also discloses the use of an oxidator for the removal of mercury from a gas stream. The sorbent described in this publication consists of activated carbon or of a molecular sieve, which is treated with a mercury compound. According to the present invention, such a mercury-loaded pre-treatment is not required, which results in considerable savings and, of course, an improved mercury sorption capacity. According to a working hypothesis used by the inventors, the functionality of the oxidator as added in accordance with the invention is not based exclusively on the oxidation of the mercury in the gas stream, but also on the preceding or in situ activation of the sorbent. The mercury-comprising sorbent obtained after the sorption of mercury may be re-used, for example, for immobilisation or cementation involved in the production of e.g. form-retaining products. Applications may be found, among others, in road construction and the construction of public utilities. Of course, other applications are equally well possible. These applications are possible in particular due to the stable bond of the sorbed mercury in the loaded sorbent, which prevents the possibility of er-

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age of captured mercury shown in Table 1 was calculated by dividing the difference between the ingoing mercury concentration and the outgoing mercury concentration by the ingoing mercury concentration. The mercury was fed to the gas stream at 100°C by means of a Dynacal permeation tube, as known in the art. The nitrogen was preheated. Subsequently the mixed gas stream was heated to the temperature indicated in Table 1, after which it was lead through the sorption bed and subsequently to the analyser described above in order to measure whether any, and if so how much, mercury was still present in the gas stream.

The amounts of mercury used in the experiments are compatible with the sensitivity of the analyzer.

Figure 1 shows a graphical illustration of the results obtained from the experiments. The decline in sorption at temperatures in the range from 50 to 230 °C [500] probably indicates an influence of physical sorption. The contribution of physical sorption decreases with rising temperatures, with the consequence that the total sorption also decreases. At higher temperatures the chemical sorption clearly dominates and the total sorption increases. It is observed that with the sorbent for mercury used in the art, activated carbon, there is also a negative trend in the total sorption at rising temperatures. At temperatures above approximately 200°C, sorption with activated carbon has decreased to a negligible value

Table 1:

From Table 1 it can be seen that with an increase in temperature, the sorption of mercury by means of the sorbent according to the invention is enhanced.

The original uncorrected values were as follows:

Figure 2 shows a graph of the activity of the sorbent according to the invention as a function of the temperature, and compared to some of the sorbents known in the prior art. The difference between the sorbent according to the invention and the group of other sorbents can clearly be seen, especially the difference in behaviour at elevated temperatures: at temperatures above 200°C the sorbent according to the invention has a much improved sorption, while the known agents exhibit an increasingly reduced adsorption.

The foregoing Table 1 and the Figures 1 and 2 show that the sorption of mercury on the sorbent according to the invention is of the chemical type. This means in effect that the mercury is substantially irreversibly sorbed on the sorbent. Therefore, the chance of the mercury being removed from the sorbent after use of the sorbent, is negligible. This is confirmed by means of temperature-programmed dissociation measurements carried out on the mercury-loaded sorbents according to the present invention with the aid of thermogravimetrical and differential thermal analysis (TGA/DTA) under a flow of nitrogen gas coupled to a detection of mercury possibly removed from the sorbent in the gaseous form with the aid of the above mentioned "Buck" analyzer. From now on the TGA/DTA

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periment is confirmed by measuring with the aid of the TGA/DTA analysis and a coupled mass spectrometer whether any chlorine or chloride compounds of the sorbent used were present in the gases leaving the TGA/DTA characteri- zation. The result of this measurement was that the amounts of of any chlorine or chloride compounds were below the detection limit of the mass spectrometer. These measurements were verified by releasing chlorine with the aid of the so-called Gordinne basic fusion technique, af- ter which the escaping chlorine was detected with the aid of photometric analysis. A more detailed description of this method can be found in ASTM C114. The result of this analysis which was carried out on two sorbents treated with hypochlorite was, that the chlorine content was below the detection limit of 100 ppm-weight, while the chlorine content of the initial calcium hypochlorite/sorbent mixture was more than 4% by weight, or 40,000 ppm-weight. It is concluded therefore, that the sorbent used no longer contains chlorine or chloride compounds. Since the activ- ity enhanced by calcium hypochlorite (from 11% to 100% mercury adsorption at 300°C) was maintained during the entire duration of the experiment, thus also after the chlorine was removed with the mercury-comprising gas stream, it is further concluded that the sorbent treated with the oxidator at elevated temperature possesses a permanently improved mercury-removing activity.

In the present cases an amount of 10 grams of calcium hypochlorite appeared to be sufficient.

The mercury-polluted gas stream may be contacted with the sorbent by placing the sorbent as fixed bed into the stream. The sorbent may optionally be dispersed in the gas stream. According to a first embodiment, the oxidator is added to the sorbent directly. According to a second embodiment, the oxidator may be added to the gas stream upstream from the sorbent, for example, by dispersing the same in the gas stream, and according to a third embodiment, an oxidator may be added to the gas stream simultaneously with the sorbent. The contacting time must in any case be such as to allow a desirable activation and sorption to take place. If the gas stream originates from, for example, an incineration plant, the above-mentioned substances may be added to the gas stream preceding a dust collector, so that the dust collector can remove the solid components from the gas stream all at the same time. The method according to the invention is also applicable to gases or vapors from the petrochemical and chemical industry, for example, for the removal of mercury from natural gases and natural gas condensate, from naphtha and other base materials used in the said industries.

According to a preferred embodiment, the sorbent may be added to a waste gas stream at various positions having different prevailing temperatures. This means that due to the choice of the location for adding a sorbent, different types of metal, irrespective of their condition (metallic or ionogenic) , can be sorbed in a desirable condition. This condition depends on the temperature. Components such as S0₂, HC1 and Cl₂ may also be removed with the aid of the method according to the invention.

The method according to the invention may be applied in an existing system where a cleaning apparatus for gas streams, for example a scrubber, is already present. Optionally only a small amount of sorbent may be added, just sufficient to convert the mercury in the gases into the ionic form (Hg²⁺) . This improves the mercury capturing performance in the scrubber.

The invention is not restricted to the above- described embodiment. Amounts of sorbent other than those mentioned above may be used in practice. Likewise, it is possible to use other kaolin-comprising sorbents.

The results of the measurements on prior art sorbents as indicated in Figure 2, are retrieved from the following publications: W.A. Rosenhoover et al . , US ICCI project 98-

1/1.2B-2

R.A. Hargis et al., US DOE; Mercury control by- injection of activated carbon, 17th Int. Pittsburgh Coal Conf . , 2000

J.R. Butz, C.Turchi, T .E.Broderick, J.Albiston, ADA techn, Littleton, Options for mercury removal from coal fired flue gas streams, pilot scale research on acti- vated carbon and alternative and regenerable sorbents, 17th Int. Pittsburgh Coal Conf., 2000

Sid Nelson Jr., High temperature sorbents to lower mercury control costs, 17th Int. Pittsburgh Coal Conf., 2000 J. Montgomery, D. Battleson, S. Bryson, Mercury removal from incineration off gas by carbon injection, MSE technology applications Inc., Butte.

Claims

1. A method for the removal of mercury from a gas stream, characterized in that at a temperature above 170 °C the gas stream is contacted with a sorbent that as the active component is comprised of a mixture of substan- tially silica-alumina compounds and/or calcium compounds.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the sorbent comprises kaolin, that may or may not be in the dehydrated form of meta-kaolin.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, charac- terized in that the calcium compounds comprise calcium carbonate and/or calcium oxide, preferably 60 - 70% of calcium carbonate and 40 - 30% of calcium oxide.

4. A method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sorbent is obtained by thermal conversion of a material chosen from 1. paper waste and 2. residue from the paper production.

5. A method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that during sorption the temperature is higher than 230°C, preferably higher than 300°C, more preferably higher than 450°C, still more preferably higher than 550°C.

6. A method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the same comprises the step of activating the sorbent by means of an oxidator chosen from, for example, sulphate compounds, peroxides or chloride compounds.

7. A method according to claim 6, characterized in that the activation of the sorbent and the oxidator is carried out prior to contacting the sorbent with the gas stream to be cleaned.

8. A method according to claim 7 , characterized in that after activation of the sorbent, the oxidator is removed.

9. A method according to one of the claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the oxidator and the sorbent are mixed together and as mixture added to the gas stream to be cleaned.

10. A method according to one of the claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the oxidator is added earlier to the gas stream, upstream from the sorbent.

11. A method according to one of the claims 6 to 10, characterized in that as oxidator a chlorine compound, preferably calcium hypochlorite is used.

12. A method according to one of the claims 6 to 10, characterized in that during sorption the temperature is higher than 50°C, preferably higher than 100°C, more preferably higher than 200°C, still more preferably higher than 300°C, and most preferably higher than 400°C.

13. A method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the mercury is present in the metallic form.

14. A sorbent, characterized in that it comprises mercury adsorbed thereto, obtained by a method according to one of the preceding claims.

15. A sorbent according to claim 14, characterized in that up to temperatures of more than 900°C the mercury is irreversibly bound to the sorbent.

16. Use of the mercury-comprising sorbent according to claim 14 or 15 in a binding agent as hydraulic or pozzolanic compound.

17. A moulded product obtained by using a sorbent according to claim 14 or 15.

18. A method of improving a sorbent for the removal of mercury from a gas stream, characterized in that the same comprises steps of activating a compound comprised of a mixture of substantially silica-alumina compounds and/or calcium compounds, with an oxidator chosen from, for example, sulphate compounds, peroxides or chlorine compounds .