Novel environmentally friendly catalytic oxidation approaches on elemental mercury removal from carbon steel surface

Abstract

To date, technology for the removal of elementary mercury adsorbed on carbon steel surfaces with very minimum iron (Fe) leaching is apparently missing. In this study, the oxidation reaction of mono-peroxyacetic acid (PAA) was used in the presence of Ru/Mn/Al2O3 catalyst to enhance the treatment removal. The obtained results revealed that the PAA alone could reduce 91% of Hg° removal in 3 h. Interestingly, with the presence of Ru/Mn/Al2O3 catalyst calcined at 1000°C, the PAA managed to remove almost 99% of Hg° at the same treatment time with the lowest Fe leaching of 17 ppm.

Keywords

• mercury
• carbon steel
• catalyst
• peroxyacetic acid
• fe leaching