Significance of RuO2 modified SCR catalyst for elemental mercury oxidation in coal-fired flue gas

Environ Sci Technol. 2011 Jul 1;45(13):5725-30. doi: 10.1021/es200223x. Epub 2011 Jun 10.

Abstract

Catalytic conversion of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) to its oxidized form has been considered as an effective way to enhance mercury removal from coal-fired power plants. In order to make good use of the existing selective catalytic reduction of NO(x) (SCR) catalysts as a cobenefit of Hg(0) conversion at lower level HCl in flue gas, various catalysts supported on titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) and commercial SCR catalysts were investigated at various cases. Among the tested catalysts, ruthenium oxides (RuO(2)) not only showed rather high catalytic activity on Hg(0) oxidation by itself, but also appeared to be well cooperative with the commercial SCR catalyst for Hg(0) conversion. In addition, the modified SCR catalyst with RuO(2) displayed an excellent tolerance to SO(2) and ammonia without any distinct negative effects on NO(x) reduction and SO(2) conversion. The demanded HCl concentration for Hg(0) oxidation can be reduced dramatically, and Hg(0) oxidation efficiency over RuO(2) doped SCR catalyst was over 90% even at about 5 ppm HCl in the simulated gases. Ru modified SCR catalyst shows a promising prospect for the cobenefit of mercury emission control.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / chemistry*
  • Air Pollution / prevention & control*
  • Catalysis
  • Coal
  • Mercury / chemistry*
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Power Plants
  • Ruthenium Compounds / chemistry*
  • Sulfur Dioxide / chemistry
  • Titanium

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Coal
  • Ruthenium Compounds
  • Sulfur Dioxide
  • ruthenium dioxide
  • titanium dioxide
  • Titanium
  • Mercury