Catalysis is the key fundamental ingredient to convert elemental mercury in coal-fired power stations into its oxidized forms that are more easily captured by sorbents, ESPs, baghouses, and wet scrubbers, whether the catalyst be unburned carbon (UBC) in the ash or vanadium pentoxide in SCR catalysts. This project has investigated several different types of catalysts that enhance mercury oxidation in several different ways. The stated objective of this project in the Statement of Objectives included testing duct-injection catalysts, catalyst-sorbent hybrids, and coated low-pressure-drop screens. Several different types of catalysts were considered for duct injection, including different forms of iron and carbon. Duct-injection catalysts would have to be inexpensive catalysts, as they would not be recycled. Iron and calcium had been shown to catalyze mercury oxidation in published bench-scale tests. However, as determined from results of an on-going EPRI/EPA project at Southern Research, while iron and calcium did catalyze mercury oxidation, the activity of these catalysts was orders of magnitude below that of carbon and had little impact in the short residence times available for duct-injected catalysts or catalyst-sorbent hybrids. In fact, the only catalyst found to be effective enough for duct injection was carbon, which is also used to capture …

Preliminary research has shown that SCR catalysts employed for nitrogen-oxide reduction can effectively oxidize mercury. This report discusses initial results from fundamental investigations into the behavior of mercury species in the presence of SCR catalysts at Southern Research Institute. The testing was performed at Southern Research's Catalyst Test Facility, a bench-scale reactor capable of simulating gas-phase reactions occurring in coal-fired utility pollution-control equipment. Three different SCR catalysts are currently being studied in this project - honeycomb-type, plate-type, and a hybrid-type catalyst. The catalysts were manufactured and supplied by Cormetech Inc., Hitachi America Ltd., and Haldor-Topsoe Inc., respectively. Parametric testing was performed to investigate the contribution of flue-gas chemistry on mercury oxidation via SCR catalysts. Methods and procedures for experimental testing continue to be developed to produce the highest quality mercury-oxidation data. Most experiments so far have focused on testing the catalysts in a simulated Powder River Basin (PRB) flue-gas environment, which contains lower sulfur and chlorine than produced by other coals. Future work to characterize flue gas simulations typically derived from low and high sulfur bituminous coal will be performed in a stepwise manner, to avoid the constant interruptions in testing that occur when leaks in the system are generated …

Bench-scale carbon-catalyst tests were conducted in the first quarter of 2004, to obtain kinetic rates of mercury oxidation and sorption for different forms of carbon. The current quarterly report provides a more extensive quantitative analysis of the data obtained from the CRTF experiments on different carbon types and carbocalcium mixtures than was presented in the last quarterly report. The procedure and basis for normalizing mercury removals, so that they could be compared on an equal residence time basis, is described. The chemisorption rate of mercury on carbon was found to be first order in mercury concentration and half order in HCl concentration, for the facility configuration investigated. The applicable temperature range of the kinetic rates obtained is from 300 F to 700 F, and the applicable chlorine concentration range is from 2 ppmv HCl to 250 ppmv HCl. The gas-sorbent contact time of 0.12 seconds used in this work was shown to be representative of gas-dust cake contact times in full-scale baghouses. All carbon types investigated behaved similarly with respect to Hg sorption, including the effect of temperature and chlorine concentration. Activated carbon was more effective at sorbing mercury than carbon black and unburned carbon (UBC), because the internal surface …

Preliminary research has shown that SCR catalysts employed for nitrogen-oxide reduction can effectively oxidize mercury. Three different SCR catalysts are currently being studied in this project--honeycomb-type, plate-type, and a hybrid-type catalyst. The catalysts were manufactured and supplied by Cormetech Inc., Hitachi America Ltd., and Haldor-Topsoe Inc., respectively. Parametric testing was performed to investigate the contribution of flue-gas chemistry on mercury oxidation via SCR catalysts. Future work to characterize flue gas simulations typically derived from low and high sulfur bituminous coal are being performed in a stepwise manner, to avoid the constant interruptions in testing that occur when leaks in the system are generated during temperature transitions. Specifically, chlorine concentration vs. mercury oxidation correlations will be developed for each catalyst. The contributions of temperature are also being investigated. SO2 oxidation is also being investigated for each test condition.

None

Preliminary research has shown that SCR catalysts employed for nitrogen-oxide reduction can effectively oxidize mercury. This report discusses initial results from fundamental investigations into the behavior of mercury species in the presence of SCR catalysts at Southern Research Institute. Three different SCR catalysts are being studied. These are honeycomb-type, plate-type, and a hybrid-type catalyst. The catalysts are manufactured and supplied by Cormetech Inc., Hitachi America Ltd., and Haldor-Topsoe Inc., respectively. Test methods and experimental procedures were developed for current and future testing. The methods and procedures equalize factors influencing mercury adsorption and oxidation (surface area, catalyst activity, and pore structure) that normally differ for each catalyst type. Initial testing was performed to determine the time necessary for each catalyst to reach surface-adsorption equilibrium. In addition, the fraction of Hg oxidized by each of the SCR catalyst types is being investigated, for a given amount of catalyst and flow rate of mercury and flue gas. The next major effort will be to examine the kinetics of mercury oxidation across the SCR catalysts with respect to changes in mercury concentration and with respect to HCl concentration. Hg-sorption equilibrium times will also be investigated with respect to ammonia concentration in the simulated flue …

None

Preliminary research has shown that SCR catalysts employed for nitrogen-oxide reduction can effectively oxidize mercury. This report discusses initial results from fundamental investigations into the behavior of mercury species in the presence of SCR catalysts at Southern Research Institute. The testing was performed at Southern Research's Catalyst Test Facility, a bench-scale reactor capable of simulating gas-phase reactions occurring in coal-fired utility pollution-control equipment. Three different SCR catalysts are currently being studied in this project--honeycomb-type, plate-type, and a hybrid-type catalyst. The catalysts were manufactured and supplied by Cormetech Inc., Hitachi America Ltd., and Haldor-Topsoe Inc., respectively. Parametric testing was performed to investigate the contribution of flue-gas chemistry on mercury oxidation via SCR catalysts. Methods and procedures for experimental testing continue to be developed to produce the highest quality mercury-oxidation data. During this past quarter, it was discovered that long periods (12 - 24 hours) are required to equilibrate the catalysts in the system. In addition, after the system has been equilibrated, operational changes to temperature, gas concentration, or flow rate shifts the equilibrium, and steady-state must be reestablished, which can require as much as twelve additional hours per condition change. In the last quarter of testing, it was shown that the …