Tail-end Hg capture on Au/carbon-monolith regenerable sorbents

Abstract In this work, a regenerable sorbent for Hg retention based on carbon supported Au nanoparticles has been developed and tested. Honeycomb structures were chosen in order to avoid pressure drop and particle entrainment in a fixed bed. Carbon-based supports were selected in order to easily modify the surface chemistry to favour the Au dispersion. Results of Hg retention and regeneration were obtained in a bench scale experimental installation working at high space velocities (for sorbent, 53,000 h −1 ; for active phase, 2.6 × 10 8  h −1 ), 120 °C for retention temperature and Hg inlet concentration of 23 ppbv. Gold nanoparticles were shown to be the active phase for mercury capture through an amalgamating mechanism. The mercury captured by the spent sorbent can be easily released to be disposed or reused. Mercury evolution from spent sorbents was followed by TPD experiments showing that the sorbent can be regenerated at temperatures as low as 220 °C.