Mercury Speciation of MSWI Flue Gas on Pilot and Industrial Scales
407
The results obtained from the simulator indicate that about 40% and 60-80%
Hg is found as Hg(II) in flue gas in typical coal combustion conditions and waste
incineration conditions, respectively. In real combustion processes, however, the
physical and chemical environments can differ from those of the simulated
conditions in this study, so that the Hg(II) percentage may also vary. This
portion of Hg(II) will be emitted directly into the atmosphere if no further
cleaning measures are adopted.
At the Savenas MSWI plant in G6teborg, where two wet scrubbers have been
installed, the total concentration of mercury emitted into the atmosphere was
found to be 10-15 ~lg m -3, of which about 15-20% was in Hg(II) form.
Acknowledgements The authors thank C. A. Pedersen, C. Lundgren and E. Larssen at Giiteborg
Municipal Waste Incineration Plant for their support and assistance during the measurements at
Siiveniis, and Dr. M Abul-Milh at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Giiteborgs University for
running the flue gas simulator and technical assistance in sampling.
References
Bergstriim JGT (1986) Mercury behaviour in flue gases. Waste Manage Res 4:57-64
Bloom N, Presto E, Miklavcic VL (1993) Flue gas mercury emissions and speciation from fossil fuel
combustion. Presented at: Conf on Managing air toxics: state of art, Capitol Hilton, Washington,
DC, 13-15 July 1993
Carty AI, Malone SF (1979) The chemistry of mercury in biological system. In: The biogeochemistry of
mercury in the environment chap 20 Nriagu JO (ed) Elsevier North-Holland Biomedical Press,
Amsterdam
GRAAB (1993) Environment report 94:1, Gothenburg Municipal Waste Incineration Plant, Box 95, 401
21 Giiteborg, Sweden. Giiteborgsregionens Avfalls AB, Raport 94:1, Miliiirapport 1993 (in Swedish)
Hall B (1992) An experimental study of mercury reactions in combustion flue gases. Thesis,
Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology and University of
Giiteborg, Sweden
Larjava K (1993) On the measurement of volatile metal species at elevated temperature, thesis, Espoo,
Technical Research Center of Finland, VTT publications 137
Lindqvist 0 (1994) Chemical transformation mechanisms, a synthesis report. Workshop Proc EPRI
Rep No TR-104214. Convened 16-18 March 1994, Tampa, Florida
Lindqvist 0, Schager P (1990) Continuous measurements of mercury in flue gases from waste
incinerators and combustion plants. VOl Ber 838:401-421
Lindqvist 0, Johansson K, Austrap M, Andersson A, Bringmark L, Hovsenias G, Hiikansson L,
Iverfeldt A, Meili M, Timm R (1991) Mercury in the Swedish environment - recent research on
cause, consequences and corrective methods. Water Air Soil Pollut 55:1-261
Metzger M, Braun H (1987) In-situ mercury speciation in flue gas by liquid and solid sorption systems.
Chemosphere 16 (4):821-832
Munthe I, Xiao Z, Lindqvist 0 (1991) The aqueous reduction of divalent mercury by sulfite. Water Soil
Air Pollut 55:621-630
Rodhe H (1996) The global mercury cycle - how large is the human impact? 4th Int Mercury Conf, 4-8
Aug 1996, Hamburg, Germany, Abstr p 2
Swedish Standard SS 02 84 23 (1992) Air quality - stationary source emissions - determination of total
mass concentration of mercury - flameless atomic absorption methods, Box 3295, 103 66
Stockholm, Sweden (Standardiseringskommissionen i Sverige (SIS) (in Swedish)
Wang J, Xiao Z, Lindqvist 0 (1995) On-line measurement of mercury in simulated flue gas. Water Air
Soil Pollut 80:1217-1226
407
The results obtained from the simulator indicate that about 40% and 60-80%
Hg is found as Hg(II) in flue gas in typical coal combustion conditions and waste
incineration conditions, respectively. In real combustion processes, however, the
physical and chemical environments can differ from those of the simulated
conditions in this study, so that the Hg(II) percentage may also vary. This
portion of Hg(II) will be emitted directly into the atmosphere if no further
cleaning measures are adopted.
At the Savenas MSWI plant in G6teborg, where two wet scrubbers have been
installed, the total concentration of mercury emitted into the atmosphere was
found to be 10-15 ~lg m -3, of which about 15-20% was in Hg(II) form.
Acknowledgements The authors thank C. A. Pedersen, C. Lundgren and E. Larssen at Giiteborg
Municipal Waste Incineration Plant for their support and assistance during the measurements at
Siiveniis, and Dr. M Abul-Milh at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Giiteborgs University for
running the flue gas simulator and technical assistance in sampling.
References
Bergstriim JGT (1986) Mercury behaviour in flue gases. Waste Manage Res 4:57-64
Bloom N, Presto E, Miklavcic VL (1993) Flue gas mercury emissions and speciation from fossil fuel
combustion. Presented at: Conf on Managing air toxics: state of art, Capitol Hilton, Washington,
DC, 13-15 July 1993
Carty AI, Malone SF (1979) The chemistry of mercury in biological system. In: The biogeochemistry of
mercury in the environment chap 20 Nriagu JO (ed) Elsevier North-Holland Biomedical Press,
Amsterdam
GRAAB (1993) Environment report 94:1, Gothenburg Municipal Waste Incineration Plant, Box 95, 401
21 Giiteborg, Sweden. Giiteborgsregionens Avfalls AB, Raport 94:1, Miliiirapport 1993 (in Swedish)
Hall B (1992) An experimental study of mercury reactions in combustion flue gases. Thesis,
Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology and University of
Giiteborg, Sweden
Larjava K (1993) On the measurement of volatile metal species at elevated temperature, thesis, Espoo,
Technical Research Center of Finland, VTT publications 137
Lindqvist 0 (1994) Chemical transformation mechanisms, a synthesis report. Workshop Proc EPRI
Rep No TR-104214. Convened 16-18 March 1994, Tampa, Florida
Lindqvist 0, Schager P (1990) Continuous measurements of mercury in flue gases from waste
incinerators and combustion plants. VOl Ber 838:401-421
Lindqvist 0, Johansson K, Austrap M, Andersson A, Bringmark L, Hovsenias G, Hiikansson L,
Iverfeldt A, Meili M, Timm R (1991) Mercury in the Swedish environment - recent research on
cause, consequences and corrective methods. Water Air Soil Pollut 55:1-261
Metzger M, Braun H (1987) In-situ mercury speciation in flue gas by liquid and solid sorption systems.
Chemosphere 16 (4):821-832
Munthe I, Xiao Z, Lindqvist 0 (1991) The aqueous reduction of divalent mercury by sulfite. Water Soil
Air Pollut 55:621-630
Rodhe H (1996) The global mercury cycle - how large is the human impact? 4th Int Mercury Conf, 4-8
Aug 1996, Hamburg, Germany, Abstr p 2
Swedish Standard SS 02 84 23 (1992) Air quality - stationary source emissions - determination of total
mass concentration of mercury - flameless atomic absorption methods, Box 3295, 103 66
Stockholm, Sweden (Standardiseringskommissionen i Sverige (SIS) (in Swedish)
Wang J, Xiao Z, Lindqvist 0 (1995) On-line measurement of mercury in simulated flue gas. Water Air
Soil Pollut 80:1217-1226