Mercury adsorbent and method for producing same
Provided is a mercury adsorbent that can efficiently adsorb and remove mercury and/or a mercury compound contained in a liquid hydrocarbon and can suppress corrosive action even when used for a long time. The mercury adsorbent comprises an activated carbon including a mineral acid supported thereon, the activated carbon having a specific surface area of 1000 m 2 /g or larger and a volume of micropores of 80 cm 3 /g or larger, each of the micropores having a pore radius of 8 Å or smaller, and the mercury adsorbent has a moisture content of from 0.1 to 3 wt %.
1. A mercury adsorbent for adsorbing mercury and/or a mercury compound in a liquid hydrocarbon, the mercury adsorbent comprising:
an activated carbon including a mineral acid supported thereon,
wherein
the activated carbon has a specific surface area of 1000 m 2 /g or larger and a volume of micropores of 80 cm 3 /g or larger,
each of the micropores has a pore radius of 0.8 nm or smaller, and
the mercury adsorbent has a moisture content of from 0.1 to 3 wt %.
2. The mercury adsorbent of claim 1 , wherein the activated carbon contains oxygen and carbon in a weight ratio (O/C) of from 0.010 to 0.100.
3. The mercury adsorbent of claim 1 , wherein when measured by a combustion ion chromatography method, at least one ion selected from the group consisting of a chloride ion, a bromide ion, a phosphate ion, a phosphite ion, a sulfate ion, and a sulfite ion is detected in an amount of from 1000 to 5000 ppm.
4. The mercury adsorbent of claim 1 , wherein the mineral acid is at least one acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid.
5. A method of producing the mercury adsorbent as of claim 1 , the method comprising:
bringing a mineral acid solution into contact with an activated carbon having a specific surface area of 1000 m 2 /g or larger and a volume of micropores of 80 cm 3 /g or larger, each of the micropores having a pore radius of 0.8 nm or smaller, to obtain an acid-treated activated carbon; and
adjusting a moisture content of the acid-treated activated carbon within a range of from 0.1 to 3 wt %.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the activated carbon contains oxygen and carbon in a weight ratio (O/C) of from 0.010 to 0.100.
7. A method for adsorbing mercury and/or a mercury compound, the method comprising:
bringing the mercury adsorbent of claim 1 into contact with a liquid hydrocarbon containing the mercury and/or the mercury compound.