Elemental mercury (Hg^(0)) removal from coal syngas using magnetic tea-biochar: Experimental and theoretical insights

Mercury is ranked 3^(rd)as a global pollutant because of its long persistence in the environment. Approximately 65% of its anthropogenic emission (Hg^(0)) to the atmosphere is from coal-thermal power plants. Thus, the Hg^(0)emission control from coal-thermal power plants is inevitable. Therefore, multiple sorbent materials were synthesized using a one-step pyrolysis method to capture the Hg^(0)from simulated coal syngas. Results showed, the Hg^(0)removal performance of the sorbents increased by the citric acid/ultrasonic application.T5CUF_(0.3)demonstrated the highest Hg^(0)capturing performance with an adsorption capacity of 106.81 μg/g within 60 min at 200 °C under complex simulated syngas mixture (20% CO,20% H_(2), 10 ppm V HCl, 6% H_(2)O, and 400 ppm V H_(2)S). The Hg^(0)removal mechanism was proposed, revealing that the chemisorption governs the Hg^(0)removal process. Besides, the active Hg^(0)removal performance is attributed to the high dispersion of valence Fe_(3)O_(4)and lattice oxygen (α) contents over the T5CUF_(0.3)surface. In addition, the temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and XPS analysis confirmed that H_(2)S/HCl gases generate active sites over the sorbent surface, facilitating high Hg^(0)adsorption from syngas. This work represented a facile and practical pathway for utilizing cheap and eco-friendly tea waste to control the Hg^(0)emission.