title: A novel oxidative method for the absorption of Hg(0) from flue gas of coal fired power plants using task specific ionic liquid scrubber.
abstract: A simple continuous process is described for the removal of mercury from gas streams (such as flue gas of a coal fired power stations) using imidazolium based Task Specific Ionic Liquids [TSILs] with the general structure ([RMIM][XI(2)(-)]) where X=Cl, Br or I. The latter are formed by blending dialkylimidazolium halide salts with iodine. When applied in a gas/liquid scrubber, these salts were shown to absorb >99% of elemental mercury originally present in a gas stream in concentration of 75-400 ppb. The mercury abatement is attained by oxidating the mercury to HgI(2) which is bound as a stable IL complex ([RMIM(+)][XHgI(2)(-)]. The novel absorption system exhibits a remarkable mercury concentration factor of seven orders of magnitude. The final solution obtained contains up to 50% (w/w) mercury in the IL. Upon exposure to sodium formate, directly added to the saturated IL at 45 °C, reduced metallic mercury swiftly precipitated from the solution and could be quantitatively separated and collected. The free IL could be fully recycled.
authors.affiliation: Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. zach.barnea@mail.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Zach
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Barnea
authors.forename: Tatyana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sachs
authors.forename: Mandan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chidambaram
authors.forename: Yoel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sasson
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003031:Coal; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D007455:Iodine / Q000737:chemistry*; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011210:Power Plants
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D003031:Coal; D007093:Imidazoles; D052578:Ionic Liquids; C502841:1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride; D007455:Iodine; D008628:Mercury