Energy & Fuels, Vol.33, No.9, 8976-8984, 2019
Effects of Supports on Pd-Fe Bimetallic Sorbents for Hg-0 Removal Activity and Regeneration Performance from Coal-Derived Fuel Gas
Pd-Fe bimetallic sorbents were shown to be a great potential sorbent for Hg-0 removal from coal-derived fuel gas. In this work, activated carbon (AC), Al2O3, and Beta molecular sieve were chosen as supports to disperse Pd-Fe bimetallic components. The effects of the supports on Hg-0 removal of Pd-Fe bimetallic sorbents were evaluated using a fixed-bed reactor at 200 degrees C. The regeneration performance of sorbents was also investigated. The results showed that Hg-0 removal activity and regeneration performance over Pd-Fe/AC was the best, followed by Pd-Fe/Beta, and Pd-Fe/Al2O3. The Hg-0 removal efficiency of Pd-Fe/AC bimetallic sorbents remained above 80% within 400 min after regeneration 4 times. The Pd-Fe bimetallic sorbents were characterized by N-2 adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, CO pulse adsorption, Hg temperature-programmed thermal-desorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The analysis results revealed that three sorbents had a similar Hg-0 removal mechanism. Hg-0 transformed to Pd-Hg amalgam and HgS after reacting with the sorbents. Pd-0 and Fe2O3 were the active species for the removal of Hg-0. The removal performance of Hg-0 by Pd-Fe/Al2O3 sorbents was the lowest. It is because Pd-Fe/Al2O3 sorbents have the lowest specific surface area, surface content, and dispersion degree of the Pd component. Furthermore, Pd-0 over Pd-Fe/Al2O3 sorbents was severely poisoned and transformed to PdS during the regeneration process.