OXIDATION OF MERCURY ACROSS SCR CATALYSTS IN COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS BURNING LOW RANK FUELS

Abstract

The objectives of this program were to measure the oxidation of mercury in flue gas across SCR catalyst in a coal-fired power plant burning low rank fuels using a slipstream reactor containing multiple commercial catalysts in parallel and to develop a greater understanding of mercury oxidation across SCR catalysts in the form of a simple model. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Argillon GmbH provided co-funding for this program. REI used a multicatalyst slipstream reactor to determine oxidation of mercury across five commercial SCR catalysts at a power plant that burned a blend of 87% subbituminous coal and 13% bituminous coal. The chlorine content of the blend was 100 to 240 {micro}g/g on a dry basis. Mercury measurements were carried out when the catalysts were relatively new, corresponding to about 300 hours of operation and again after 2,200 hours of operation. NO{sub x}, O{sub 2} and gaseous mercury speciation at the inlet and at the outlet of each catalyst chamber were measured. In general, the catalysts all appeared capable of achieving about 90% NO{sub x} reduction at a space velocity of 3,000 hr{sup -1} when new, which is typical of full-scale installations; after 2,200 hours exposure to flue gas, some of the catalysts appeared to lose NO{sub x} activity. For the fresh commercial catalysts, oxidation of mercury was in the range of 25% to 65% at typical full-scale space velocities. A blank monolith showed no oxidation of mercury under any conditions. All catalysts showed higher mercury oxidation without ammonia, consistent with full-scale measurements. After exposure to flue gas for 2,200 hours, some of the catalysts showed reduced levels of mercury oxidation relative to the initial levels of oxidation. A model of Hg oxidation across SCRs was formulated based on full-scale data. The model took into account the effects of temperature, space velocity, catalyst type and HCl concentration in the flue gas.