Abstract
Fly ash samples were collected from the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) of a 600MW pulverized coal boiler firing Zhungeer bituminous coal in China to evaluate and explore its mercury adsorption capacity and mechanism. Samples characterization was conducted to feature their morphologies correlated to mercury content, and experimental studies on mercury adsorption in a fixed-bed apparatus were carried out to further verify its mercury adsorption availability. Based on the experimental data, adsorption isotherm was modeled with Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin equations. Adsorption kinetic analysis was also performed. The results show that mercury content of fly ash samples is associated with particle size, unburned carbon content and functional groups of Al-O/Si-O or Si-O-Si/Si-O-Al tetrahedron on fly ash. Increase of initial mercury concentration is beneficial to promote mercury adsorption due to the enhancement of mercury diffusion force onto the fly ash surface, mercury intraparticle diffusion rate and initial mercury adsorption rate. Fly ash with medium size displays better mercury adsorption capacity. Smaller particle size results in higher specific surface area, but brings about low specific surface area utilization rate for mercury adsorption. Freundlich isotherm equation presents better fitting result, indicating that fly ash surface is non-uniform. Mercury adsorption on fly ash at 120°C is mainly physisorption enhanced by chemisorption with ΔG at −36.73 kJ/mol. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model can describe the adsorption process more accurately and predict mercury adsorption capacity of fly ash preferably, showing that mercury adsorption on fly ash surface in fixed-bed is controlled dominantly by external mass transfer.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
S. Bose-O’Reilly, B. Lettmeier, R.M. Gothe, C. Beinhoff, U. Siebert and G. Drasch, Environ. Res., 107, 89 (2008).
H. C. Hsi, C.Y. Tsai, T. H. Kuo and C. S. Chiang, Bioresour. Technol., 102, 7470 (2011).
W.Q. Xu, H.R. Wang and T.Y. Zhu, J. Environ. Sci., 25, 393 (2013).
A. B. Mukherjee, R. Zevenhoven, P. Bhattacharya, K. S. Sajwand and R. Kikuchie, Resour., Conserv. Recycl., 52, 571 (2008).
J.L. Ren, J.S. Zhou, Z.Y. Luo, C.X. Hu and Y. J. Zhong, Proceedings of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, 27, 48 (2007).
Y. Zhuang, J. S. Thompson, C. J. Zygarlicke and J. H. Pavlish, Fuel, 86, 2351 (2007).
A. I. Martinez and B. K. Deshpande, Fuel Process. Technol., 88, 982 (2007).
Y. J. Wang, Y. F. Duan, L. G. Yang, Y. M. Jiang, C. J. Wu, Q. Wang and X. H. Yang, J. Fuel Chem. Technol., 36, 23 (2008).
S. H. Lee, Y. J. Rhim, S. P. Cho and J. I. Baek, Fuel, 85, 219 (2006).
S.B. Ghorishi, R.M. Keeney, S.D. Serre, B.K. Gullett and W.S. Jozewicz, Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 4454 (2002).
Y. Zheng, A.D. Jensen, C. Windelin and F. Jensen, Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 38, 599 (2012).
H. Yang, Z. Xu, M. Fan and R.R. Judkins, J. Hazard. Mater., 146, 1 (2007).
A. A. Presto and E. J. Granite, Environ. Sci. Technol., 40, 5601 (2006).
R. Bhardwaj, X. Chen and R.D. Vidic, J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 59, 1331 (2009).
J. C. Hower, C. L. Senior, E. M. Suuberg, R. H. Hurt, J. L. Wilcoxd and E. S. Olsone, Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 36, 510 (2010).
Y.C. Zhao, J.Y. Zhang, J. Liu, M. Diaz-Somoano, P. Abad-Valle, M.R. Martinez-Tarazona and C. G. Zheng, Science China Technological Sciences, 53, 976 (2010).
S. Wang and H. Wu, J. Hazard. Mater., 136, 482 (2006).
M. Li, J. Liu and C.G. Zheng, J. Eng. Thermophys., 28, 882 (2007).
M.A. Lopez-Anton, P. Abad-Valle, M. Diaz-Somoano, I. Suarez-Ruiz and M. R. Martinez-Tarazona, Fuel, 88, 1194 (2009).
G. Skodras, I. Diamantopoulou, G. Pantoleontos and G. P. Sakellaropoulos, J. Hazard. Mater., 158, 1 (2008).
Q.S. Liu, T. Zheng, P. Wang, J.P. Jiang and N. Li, Chem. Eng. J., 157, 348 (2010).
F. Goodarzi, Fuel, 85, 1418 (2006).
Y.Q. Lu, M. Rostam-Abadi, R. Chang, C. Richardson and J. Paradis, Energy Fuels, 21, 2112(2007).
I. Kulatos, R. H. Hurt and E. M. Subberg, Fuel, 83, 223 (2004).
S. Li, C. M. Cheng, B. Chen, Y. Cao, J. Vervcynckt, A. Adebambo and W. P. Pan, Energy Fuels, 21, 3292 (2007).
I. Kostova, C. Vassileva, S.F. Dai, J.C. Hower and D. Apostolova, Int. J. Coal Geology, 116–117, 227 (2013).
J. C. Swanepoel and C. A. Strydom, Appl. Geochem., 17, 1143 (2002).
A. Palomo, M.T. Blanco-Varela, M. L. Granizo, F. Puertas, T. Vazquez and M.W. Grutzeck, Cem. Concr. Res., 29, 997 (1999).
S.D. Serre, B.K. Gullett and S.B. Ghorishi, J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 51, 733 (2001).
Y. Yin, J. Zhang and C. Sheng, Zhongguo Proceedings of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, 30, 49 (2010).
A. S. Ozcan and A. Ozcan, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 276, 39 (2004).
S. Wang and H. Li, J. Hazard. Mater., 126, 71 (2005).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhou, Q., Duan, Y., Zhu, C. et al. Adsorption equilibrium, kinetics and mechanism studies of mercury on coal-fired fly ash. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 32, 1405–1413 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-014-0336-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-014-0336-4