Heavy metal removal from waste water from wet lime(stone)—gypsum flue gas desulfurization plants

Abstract

Waste water from wet lime(stone) gypsum flue gas desulfurization processes for coal-fired boilers contains suspended solids (gypsum, silica, hydroxides of iron and aluminum) and soluble salts (chlorides and sulfates of calcium, sodium and magnesium). Furthermore, small amounts of heavy metals such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se and Zn are present in these waste water streams. A treatment method has been developed to remove these heavy metals very efficiently. This method has been based on coprecipitation of metal hydroxides and sulfides. The hydroxide and sulfide precipitates are removed by a coagulation/flocculation technique followed by gravity settling. The coprecipitation can be carried out with sodium hydroxide or with lime. Both cases were investigated in two different pilot plants with synthetically composed waste water and with actual waste water from three different types of wet lime(stone)—gypsum flue gas desulfurization plants (lime—gypsum FGD plants without a prescrubber, one using seawater and another using river water as process water; a limestone—gypsum FGD plant with a prescrubber using river water as process water).