Abstract
Mercury is a well-known pollutant and neurotoxicant having several serious effects on humans and the environment because of its highly volatile nature. It is necessary to maintain mercury vapor concentration in the working atmosphere well below its permissible value. It is reported that silver enhances the adsorption of elemental mercury (Hg0). However, the capability of silver functionalized zeolites (Agfzeolites) for the adsorption of has not been extensively studied to date. In this work, Agfzeolite has been synthesized, characterized, and tested for elemental mercury adsorption from a tainted air stream. Various characterization techniques viz; SEM, EDX, XPS, FTIR, UV, BET etc. were used for characterization. “Sherwood-Schmidt Number Correlated” evaporation values were compared. Mercury adsorption capacity was determined by using TGA and EDXR. Adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetic models were developed using the experimental data. The adsorption mechanism was investigated. It was found that adsorption kinetics fits well with ‘Weber and Morris model’ and adsorption isotherm fits well with Freundlich Isotherm. It was found that sorbent could be regenerated by thermal speciation and re-usability of adsorbent was possible. It was concluded that Agfzeolite is a promising and regenerative adsorbent with a maximum adsorption capacity of 45000 μg/gm.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
