Alginate-pyrolyzed porous carbon as efficient gas phase elemental mercury scavenger

The present research work demonstrates the potential of porous carbon (PC) fabricated through facile one-step method from calcium alginate biomass as a low cost and efficient scavenger for gas phase elemental mercury (Hg degrees) from natural gas. Performance of the prepared PC at different temperatures (500, 700 and 900 degrees C) using fixed-bed setup mimicking the plant conditions revealed that PC-900 demonstrated to be a promising adsorbent for removing Hg degrees. The excellent sorption performance of PC-900 could be attributed to its BET surface area and large pore volume which rendered easy sorption of Hg degrees into the porous network. The equilibrium adsorption results further confirmed that sorption capacity decreased from 1236 to 1089 mu g/g with increase in temperature from 30 to 50 degrees C, indicating exothermic nature of adsorption. The sorption isotherms well fitted the Langmuir model, with maximum adsorption capacity of 1236 mu g/g at 30 degrees C. A comparison of the sorption capability of bio-derived PC-900 with sulfur impregnated carbon (SIC) at 50 degrees C affirmed that the uptake capacity of PC-900 (1089.6 mu g/g) was much higher than SIC (887.2 mu g/g). These results reveal the promising solutions offered by alginate pyrolyzed PC for scavenging Hg degrees from natural gas, by not only reducing the environmental problems associated with gaseous mercury emissions but also by making the process more economical.