Mercury control by fixed bed adsorption

Emission criteria for mercury releases are very stringent. The adsorption process easily meets all limits that have been imposed. Even if the inlet concentrations are extremely high, a properly sized bed will meet control standards. Since the performance does not change until the bed is saturated and the mercury begins to break through, which can be months or years, there is no need for continuous emission monitoring. A discussion on a fixed bed system for removing mercury from coal processes covers the Hazardous Waste Combustor Maximum Achievable Control Technology standards for mercury emissions; process description; performance of various processes for treating various mercury-containing wastes; and various sources of mercury wastes, e.g., wastes from coal gasification process. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2007 AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11-4-9/2007).