A Reply to Keith Schofield: Comment on Ernest et al. Programmable Thermal Dissociation of Reactive Gaseous Mercury, a Potential Approach to Chemical Speciation: Results from a Field Study. Atmosphere 2014, 5, 575–596

Anthony Hynes,Deanna Donohoue,Dieter Bauer,Cheryl Tatum Ernest,Arnout Ter Schure

doi:10.3390/atmos7090120

Anthony Hynes, Deanna Donohoue + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos7090120

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Abstract

Dr. Schoﬁeld [1] states that:[...]

Highlights

Dr Schofield [1] states that: “The authors of this paper utilized a so-called “Programmable thermal dissociation method” to monitor HgCl2 emitted from a coal fired Florida combustion plant. They did confirm that the emitted mercury compound was the dichloride, which is the only such plausible molecule for mercury
The work described in our manuscript [2] relates to observations of the programmable thermal dissociation (PTD) of reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) collected on denuders and comparison of these PTD profiles with “calibration” profiles obtained using pure HgCl2
Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), only detects gas-phase elemental mercury (GEM, Hg(0)) and these experiments provide an unambiguous identification of the surface-mediated thermal dissociation of HgCl2 as a function of temperature

Summary

Introduction

Dr Schofield [1] states that: “The authors of this paper utilized a so-called “Programmable thermal dissociation method” to monitor HgCl2 emitted from a coal fired Florida combustion plant. The subtle implications in the paper that the HgCl2(g) molecule is not thermally stable and can readily dissociate in the gas phase at temperatures below 300 ◦C is not consistent with a very broad spectrum of chemical information and clearly can be misleading and incorrect if not more fully explained.”

Results

Conclusion