Mercury removal from aqueous solution and flue gas by adsorption on activated carbon fibres

The use of two activated carbon fibres, one laboratorial sample prepared from a commercial acrylic textile fibre and one commercial sample of Kynol1, as prepared/received and modified by reaction with powdered sulfur and H2S gas in order to increase the sulfur content were studied for the removal of mercury from aqueous solution and from flue gases from a fluidized bed combustor. The sulfur introduced ranged from 1 to 6 wt.% depending on the method used. The most important parameter for the mercury uptake is the type of sulfur introduced rather than the total amount and it was found that the H2S treatment of ACF leads to samples with the highest mercury uptake, despite the lower sulfur amount introduced. The modified samples by both methods can remove HgCl2 from aqueous solutions at pH 6 within the range 290–710 mg/g (ACF) which can be favourably compared with other studies already published. The use of a filter made with an activated carbon fibre modified by powdered sulfur totally removed the mercury species present in the flue gases produced by combustion of fossil fuel.