Removal of mercury from natural gas by a new activated adsorbent from olive stones

This study was devoted to the valorization of a plant waste (olive stones): that is widely available in Mediterranean countries in order to remove mercury from natural gas. The raw material from olive stones was prepared by pyrolysis, chemical activation with phosphoric acid, and physical activation...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of chemical engineering 2018-01, Vol.96 (1), p.241-249
Main Authors: Chemrak, Mohammed Amin, Benderdouche, Noureddine, Bestani, Benaouda, Benallou, Mokhtar Benzekri, Cagnon, Benoît
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated carbon
Activation
Adsorbents
Adsorption
Functional groups
Infrared analysis
Iodine
mercury
Mercury (metal)
Methylene blue
Natural gas
olive stone
Phosphoric acid
Porosity
Pyrolysis
Studies
Sulfur
sulphur
Thermogravimetric analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study was devoted to the valorization of a plant waste (olive stones): that is widely available in Mediterranean countries in order to remove mercury from natural gas. The raw material from olive stones was prepared by pyrolysis, chemical activation with phosphoric acid, and physical activation under steam. Two olive stone‐based granular activated carbons were prepared: one with the virgin stones, while the other was impregnated with sulphur. After treatment, the adsorbents obtained were characterized by determining the iodine number, the methylene blue index, and by estimating the porous properties by N2 adsorption at 77 K. Thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy analysis were carried out to determine the functional groups before and after mercury adsorption. An experimental study of vapour‐phase mercury adsorption by the activated carbons (virgin and sulphur‐impregnated) and a comparison with a commercial material (HGR) were performed. The comparison, made by analyzing the adsorption in a continuous mode, showed that the proportion of sulphur and the porosity were important for the removal of mercury. In the conditions used, the mercury adsorption on the ACs studied follows a physisorption mechanism. The results showed that granular activated carbon‐based olive stones (sulphur‐impregnated) are very efficient to remove mercury (with 2864 μg/g) and also less expensive than commercial activated carbon due to their local availability.
ISSN:0008-4034
1939-019X
DOI:10.1002/cjce.22944