Development of Gold Nanoparticle-Doped Activated Carbon Sorbent for Elemental Mercury

The control of mercury (Hg) from coal-fired power plants by adsorption in solid sorbents is an attractive way to reduce Hg emissions. In this study, a commercial activated carbon (Norit RB3) was impregnated with gold nanoparticles for the retention of Hg in the gas phase, with the intention to explo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rodríguez Pérez, Jorge, López Antón, María Antonia, Díaz Somoano, Mercedes, García Fernández, Roberto, Martínez Tarazona, María Rosa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/128432
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/128432
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Mercury
Gold
Coal combustion
Activated carbons
Descripción
Sumario:The control of mercury (Hg) from coal-fired power plants by adsorption in solid sorbents is an attractive way to reduce Hg emissions. In this study, a commercial activated carbon (Norit RB3) was impregnated with gold nanoparticles for the retention of Hg in the gas phase, with the intention to explore their potential to be regenerated in future investigations. The activated carbon (RB3) was impregnated with different gold contents using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium chloride (THPC) to compare the performance of these two methods. Gold particles of ∼5 nm were obtained in the carbonaceous support for low gold contents (0.1%). With comparative purposes of the sorbent behavior, the Hg0 retention capacity was evaluated in a lab-scale device in an O2 + N2 atmosphere. Although the Hg retention capacities of these sorbents were similar by the two methods, a higher efficiency was achieved with THPC, being in some cases 80%. The results showed that the use of THPC is a promising means for dropping gold (0.1%) to make carbonaceous sorbents for use in Hg capture.