Goal, scope and background: Mercury (Hg) emission from combustion flue gas is a significant environmental concern due to its toxicity and high volatility. A number of the research efforts have been carried out in the past decade exploiting mercury emission, monitoring and control from combustion flue gases. Most recently, increasing activities are focused on evaluating the behavior of mercury in coal combustion systems and developing novel Hg control technologies. This is partly due to the new regulatory requirement on mercury emissions from coal-fired combustors to be enacted under the U.S. Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The aim of this review work is to better understand the state-of-the-art technologies of flue gas mercury control and identify the gaps of knowledge hence areas for further opportunities in research and development.
Main features: This paper examines mercury behaviors in combustion systems through a comprehensive review of the available literature. About 70 published papers and reports were cited and studied.
Results and discussion: This paper summarizes the mechanisms of formation of mercury containing compounds during combustion, its speciation and reaction in flue gas, as well as subsequent mobilization in the environment. It also provides a review of the current techniques designed for real-time, continuous emission monitoring (CEM) for mercury. Most importantly, current flue gas mercury control technologies are reviewed while activated carbon adsorption, a technology that offers the greatest potential for the control of gas-phase mercury emissions, is highlighted.
Conclusions and recommendations: Although much progress has been achieved in the last decade, techniques developed for the monitoring and control of mercury from combustion flue gases are not yet mature and gaps in knowledge exist for further advancement. More R&D efforts are required for the effective control of Hg emissions and the main focuses are identified.