Performance of CuCl2-Modified Activated Carbon on Mercury Capture after Injection in an Entrained Flow Reactor

Sorbent injection in coal-fired flue gas is complicated, and the performance of sorbents in a duct is much different from that in a fixed bed. For a better understanding of sorbent injection performance in the actual flow state, experiments on mercury removal by CuCl2-modified activated carbon (CuCl2-AC) were conducted in an entrained flow reactor. The effects of reaction conditions and gas flow parameters have been researched, such as initial Hg-0 concentration, sorbent injection concentration, residence time, and reaction temperature. Compared with raw activated carbon, CuCl2-AC exhibits superior performance in mercury removal under various conditions. Experimental results show that Hg-0 removal efficiencies of CuCl2-AC rise with an increase of initial Hg-0 concentration and residence time. In the entrained flow reactor, influences of flue gas components and reaction temperature are not remarkable on the performance of CuCl2-AC. Besides, the results of the entrained flow reactor show good agreement with the mass-transfer adsorption model for sorbents in flue gas, which indicates that CuCl2-AC has the potential for mercury capture after being injected into the duct.