Layered porous carbon material derived from food residues and its application for elemental mercury adsorption in flue gas

Abating mercury emissions from coal-fired industries is of preoccupation for protecting public environmental safety and human health. Affordable and high efficiency sorbents development for Hg0 adsorption in coal-fired industry is of practical significance for commercial applications. In this work, we report a layered porous carbon (LPC) material derived from food residues for Hg0 removal in coal-fired flue gas. The LPC is with significant high surface area of 2925 m2/g and mesoporous pore structures. Micro-mesoporous ranging from 0.4 nm to 5 nm are commonly found in the LPC, which can help promote mass diffusions thus enhancing Hg0 adsorption capability. Excellent Hg0 removal performance can be observed in simulated flue gas in 150celcius with the Hg0 removal effi-ciency reaching to 100 %, and it remains around 100 % within 5 successive adsorption and desorption processes without any loss. Both O2 and NO contribute significantly for the Hg0 oxidization and adsorption on LPC, and the presence of NO can greatly improve sulfur resistance for LPC. The LPC shows a rapid and efficient Hg0 adsorption capability once exposing in the Hg0 containing flue gas, and the maximum Hg0 adsorption capacity is estimated to be as high as 571 mg/g, which is much higher than other reported carbon base sorbents. The LPC derived from food residues has an industrial application potential for Hg0 removal in flue gas with the advantages of low cost and excellent adsorption performances.

Automated summary

Reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired industries is crucial for protecting public environmental safety and human health. Developing affordable and efficient sorbents for mercury adsorption in coal-fired flue gas has practical significance for commercial applications. In this study, a layered porous carbon material derived from food residues was found to have excellent Hg0 removal performance in flue gas, with a high adsorption capacity of up to 571 mg/g.