An Improved Sorbent for Mercury Abatement
EPA Contract Number: 68D99071Title: An Improved Sorbent for Mercury Abatement
Investigators: Bell, William L.
Small Business: TDA Research Inc.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 1999 through March 1, 2000
Project Amount: $70,000
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , SBIR - Air Pollution , Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Description:
The proposed research effort will develop a new, low-cost sorbent for mercury abatement in coal-fired electric utility flue gases. An ideal mercury abatement system could be retrofit into most or all existing coal-fired electric utilities. An attractive approach that meets this requirement is dry sorbent injection. The dry sorbent would be injected into the flue gas and removed in the particulate control module (PCM). The sorbent should be readily removed with the fly ash by either the fabric filter (baghouse) or the electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The requirements for such a sorbent appear relatively straightforward: the sorbent must not present any environmental problems in its own right, must absorb mercury efficiently and must be low-cost. Through its current work in the field, TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) has identified a new approach to sorbents for mercury abatement that has cost and performance advantages over previous materials. In Phase I, TDA will prepare and evaluate the new sorbents by using an apparatus developed through the current effort. The Phase I work will include an engineering analysis to assess the cost- effectiveness of the new sorbents. In Phase II, TDA, in collaboration with its industrial partner, will develop and test methods for the economical production of the sorbent on industrial-scale equipment.The sorbent that TDA proposes to develop would be broadly useful to coal-fired electric utilities in mercury abatement. If this sorbent were used to remove 50 tons of mercury per year (about 70% of the amount that is now emitted to the environment) at a rate of 2,000 pounds sorbent per pound of mercury removed, then this market would require 100,000 tons per year.