Simulation of mercury capture by activated carbon injection in incinerator flue gas. 2. Fabric filter removal

Following a companion paper focused on the in-duct mercury capture in incinerator flue gas by powdered activated carbon injection (1), this paper is concerned with the additional mercury capture on the fabric filter cake, relevant to baghouse equipped facilities. A detailed model is presented for this process, based on material balances on mercury in both gaseous and adsorbed phases along the growing filter cake and inside the activated carbon particles, taking into account mass transfer resistances and adsorption kinetics. Several sorbents of practical interest have been considered, whose parameters have been evaluated from available literature data. The values and range of the operating variables have been chosen in order to simulate typical incinerators operating conditions. Results of simulations indicate that, contrary to the in-duct removal process, high mercury removal efficiencies can be obtained with moderate sorbent consumption, as a consequence of the effective gas/sorbent contacting on the filter. Satisfactory utilization of the sorbents is predicted, especially at long filtration times. The sorbent feed rate can be minimized by using a reactive sorbent and by lowering the filter temperature as much as possible. Minor benefits can be obtained also by decreasing the sorbent particle size and by increasing the cleaning cycle time of the baghouse compartments. Reverse-flow baghouses were more efficient than pulse-jet baghouses, while smoother operation can be obtained by increasing the number of baghouse compartments. Model results are compared with available relevant full scale data.