An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of surface changes on brominated and sulfur-treated activated carbon sorbents during mercury capture: performance of pellet versus fiber sorbents.

This work explores surface changes and the Hg capture performance of brominated activated carbon (AC) pellets, sulfur-treated AC pellets, and sulfur-treated AC fibers upon exposure to simulated Powder River Basin-fired flue gas. Hg breakthrough curves yielded specific Hg capture amounts by means of the breakthrough shapes and times for the three samples. The brominated AC pellets showed a sharp breakthrough after 170-180 h and a capacity of 585 μg of Hg/g, the sulfur-treated AC pellets exhibited a gradual breakthrough after 80-90 h and a capacity of 661 μg of Hg/g, and the sulfur-treated AC fibers showed no breakthrough even after 1400 h, exhibiting a capacity of >9700 μg of Hg/g.