System and method for improved mercury control
View Patent ↗A combustion system having improved mercury collection. The system includes a combustion chamber for burning a fuel containing mercury, whereby burning produces a flue gas stream containing mercury and a device for removing mercury from the flue gas stream. The device includes a thermopolymer substrate; and a mercury-receptor attached to the substrate. In one embodiment, the system may further include a collector downstream of the device for collecting the mercury attached to the thermopolymer. The inventions further include alternative methods of mercury removal and preparation of the polymer substrate.
1. A method for providing mercury collection in a combustion system, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) burning a fuel containing mercury in a combustion chamber, whereby burning produces a flue gas stream containing mercury; and
(b) removing mercury from the flue gas stream by contacting the flue gas stream with a thermopolymer, wherein said thermopolymer contains substitutions to increase conductivity.
2. A method of mercury-removal from a fluid, said method comprising the step of: contacting the fluid containing mercury with a polymer having a mercury-receptor, wherein said mercury-receptor was attached to said substrate by heating said substrate, exposing said substrate to said mercury-receptor, and cooling said substrate.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fluid is a flue gas.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fluid is a fossil fuel combustion flue gas.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fluid includes a vapor phase.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fluid includes a liquid phase.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the liquid is water.
8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of contacting includes passing the fluid through a membrane.
9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of contacting includes injecting the polymer into the fluid.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the polymer is a particle.
11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymer is an aromatic polymer.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the aromatic polymer is a polyamide.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the aromatic polymer is a polysulfone.
14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the mercury-receptor is a halogen.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the halogen is selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, and iodine.
16. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymer having a mercury-receptor is created by reacting a halogenated monomer with another monomer.
17. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymer having a mercury-receptor is created in situ by exposing the polymer to a gaseous mercury-receptor.
18. The method of claim 2 wherein the polymer having a mercury-receptor is created in situ by exposing the polymer to a mercury-receptor in solution.
19. The method of claim 2 , wherein said polymer contains substitutions to increase conductivity.
20. A method for providing mercury collection in a combustion system, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) burning a fuel containing mercury in a combustion chamber, whereby burning produces a flue gas stream containing mercury;
(b) removing mercury from the flue gas stream by contacting the flue gas stream with a device including: (i) a thermopolymer substrate; and (ii) a mercury-receptor attached to the substrate, wherein said mercury-receptor was attached to said substrate by heating said substrate, exposing said substrate to said mercury-receptor, and cooling said substrate; and
(c) collecting the mercury attached to the thermopolymer.
21. A method of removing mercury from a fluid, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) heating a polymer membrane;
(b) exposing the heated membrane to a mercury-receptor;
(c) cooling the exposed polymer membrane; and
(d) contacting the polymer with a mercury containing fluid.
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the fluid is a gas.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the gas is a combustion flue gas.
24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the step of heating includes heating above the dew-point temperature of the membrane.
25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the heating occurs downstream of a combustion zone.
26. The method of claim 21 , wherein the step of exposing is achieved through a gas including a mercury-receptor.
27. The method of clam 26 , wherein the gas including a mercury receptor includes chlorine gas.
28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the gas including a mercury receptor includes a bromine gas.
29. The method of claim 21 , wherein the step of exposing is achieved through a liquid including a mercury-receptor.
30. The method of claim 21 , wherein the step of cooling includes cooling to below the dew-point temperature of the membrane.
31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the step of contacting includes passing the fluid through a membrane.
32. A method for providing mercury collection in a combustion system, said method comprising the steps of:
burning a fuel containing mercury in a combustion chamber, whereby burning produces a flue gas stream containing mercury;
injecting a supply of gaseous monomers downstream from the beginning of the combustion chamber; and
removing mercury from the flue gas stream by contacting the flue gas stream with a thermopolymer formed from the gaseous monomers.
33. A method of removing mercury from a flue gas, said method comprising the steps of:
heating a polymer substrate above the dew-point temperature of the substrate;
exposing the heated substrate to at least one of a gas including a mercury-receptor and a liquid including a mercury-receptor;
cooling the exposed polymer substrate to below the dew-point temperature of the substrate; and
contacting the polymer substrate with the flue gas.