Active Coke Research Articles

Effects of Carbonization on the Co-Activation of Sludge and Biomass to Produce Activated Coke

Abstract Activated coke was prepared by mixing sewage sludge and waste poplar bark biomass from furniture manufacturing. The physical activation method of these feedstocks with steam for 1 h at 850 °C was implemented. The elemental composition, pore distribution, microstructure, and surface functional groups of the activated coke products were analyzed by proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, N2 adsorption, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The effects of different mixing ratios of sludge and biomass, preactivation carbonization temperature, and activation method on the activated coke were investigated. When the proportion of biomass was two-thirds of the total feedstock mass and the carbonization temperature was 300 °C, the produced activated coke had the highest specific surface area and the most extended micropore structure. Water vapor (steam) activation was found to be beneficial to the formation of oxygen-containing functional groups. This study established that steam is beneficial to pore expansion and promotes pore development. It was found that the carbonaceous feedstocks acquired initial porosity through carbonization in nitrogen, which proved to be instrumental in the ensuing activation process. After sequential carbonization and activation, the produced active coke acquired a higher specific surface area and microporosity, compared with the active coke produced by activation alone.

Effect of calcite on desulfurization and denitration performance of activated coke and its mechanism

Different contents of calcite (CaCO3) were loaded ondeminerized Ningxia anthracite during the activated coke (AC) preparation, the influence of which on the preparation, desulfurization and/or denitrification of AC was investigated. The results show thatcalcite could regulate the pore structure and surface chemistry of AC. The total specific surface area and the micropore specific surface area decrease from 746 m2/g and 645 m2/g to 408 m2/g and 244 m2/g, respectively, when the calciteaddition was up to 8%. The total volume and the micropore volume alsodecrease with calcite addition, while the volume of mesopores and macropores increases. As the calcite addition rises, the oxygen-containing functional group and π–π* are increased linearly, and the sulfur capacity of AC first increases and then decreases during single desulfurization, the NX-2%CaCO3-AC having the best desulfurization capacity (84.0 mg /g). The increase in the content of π–π* by the addition of calcite promotes the SO2 oxidation process, and also promotes the denitrification process, the NO conversion (16.9%) with the addition of 2%CaCO3 is 1.14 times higher than that of AC (7.9%), mainly owing to the increase in the number of basic groups. However, during simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification, the presence of CaO in the AC promotes the sulfur capacity but decreases the NO removal efficiency due to the competitive adsorption and ammonium salt generation.

Inexpensive activated coke electrocatalyst for high-efficiency hydrogen peroxide production: Coupling effects of amorphous carbon cluster and oxygen dopant

Electrochemical oxygen reduction has been regarded as a promising choice to enable H2O2 on-site production and utilization wherein the exploration of high-efficiency yet cost-effective catalysts is the key. Here, we demonstrate a low-cost activated coke (AC) electrocatalyst with size-tailored amorphous carbon clusters doped by oxygen groups, prepared through a facile CO2 assisted mechanochemistry approach, to deliver among the highest performances reported in a typical alkaline system, including high activity (onset potential of 0.83 V), high H2O2 selectivity (∼90 %) and long-term stability. A series of control experiments, structural characterizations before and after electrochemical tests and density functional theory calculations provide a new insight into the coupling role of carbon cluster size and oxygen doping in H2O2 electrochemical production process, that is, size-reduced amorphous carbon lattices with abundant edges contribute to the high activity, while the basal carbon atoms in ether-doped small-size carbon plane are the most active sites towards H2O2 selectivity.

Optimization of process parameters for preparation of powdered activated coke to achieve maximum SO2 adsorption using response surface methodology

Powdered activated coke (PAC) is a good adsorbent of SO2, but its adsorption capacity is affected by many factors in the preparation process. To prepare the PAC with a high SO2 adsorption capacity using JJ-coal under flue gas atmosphere, six parameters (oxygen-coal equivalent ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time, O2 concentration, CO2 concentration, and H2O concentration) were screened and optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM). The results of factor screening experiment show that reaction temperature, O2 concentration, and H2O (g) concentration are the significant factors. Then, a quadratic polynomial regression model between the significant factors and SO2 adsorption capacity was established using the central composite design (CCD). The model optimization results indicate that when reaction temperature is 904.74°C, O2 concentration is 4.67%,H2O concentration is 27.98%, the PAC (PAC-OP) prepared had a higher SO2 adsorption capacity of 68.15 mg/g while its SO2 adsorption capacity from a validation experiment is 68.82 mg/g, and the error with the optimal value is 0.98%. Compared to two typical commercial activated cokes (ACs), PAC-OP has relatively more developed pore structures, and its SBET and Vtot are 349 m2/g and 0.1475 cm3/g, significantly higher than the 186 m2/g and 0.1041 cm3/g of AC1, and the 132 m2/g and 0.0768 cm3/g of AC2. Besides, it also has abundant oxygen-containing functional groups, its surface O content being 12.09%, higher than the 10.42% of AC1 and 10.49% of AC2. Inevitably, the SO2 adsorption capacity of PAC-OP is also significantly higher than that of both AC1 and AC2, which is 68.82 mg/g versus 32.53 mg/g and 24.79 mg/g, respectively.

Effects of microwave modification on the desulfurization and denitrification of activated coke

Microwave modification of activated coke is reported as a green and simple route to improve its synergistic desulfurization and denitrification. The results showed that microwave irradiation improved the specific surface area and pore volume, decreased the pore size, and activated the surface functional groups of the activated coke. Under the conditions of a microwave power of 500 W and a modification time of 30 min, the specific surface area was increased from 185.9 m2/g to 351.7 m2/g, the pore volume increased from 0.042 m3/g to 0.111 m3/g, and the characteristic peak strengths of C=C and -OH drastically increased. When the reaction temperature was 140 °C and the O2 concentration was 10% (by volume), the desulfurization and denitrification efficiency were maintained at levels greater than 90% and 80% for 30 min and 15 min, respectively. The C-O content increased, and the C=C and -OH content decreased after undergoing desulfurization and denitrification. The desulfurization and denitrification products were primarily sulfate and nitrate. This provides theoretical support for the application of microwave modified active coke in low temperature desulfurization and denitrification.

Co-blending modification of activated coke using pyrolusite and titanium ore for low-temperature NOx removal

Activated coke (AC) has great potential in the field of low-temperature NO removal (DeNOx), especially the branch prepared by blending modification. In this study, the AC-based pyrolusite and/or titanium ore blended catalysts were prepared and applied for DeNOx. The results show blending pyrolusite and titanium ore promoted the catalytic performance of AC (Px@AC, Tix@AC) clearly, and the co-blending of two of them showed a synergistic effect. The (P/Ti-1/2)15@AC performed the highest NO conversion of 66.4%, improved 16.9% and 16.0% respectively compared with P15@AC and Ti15@AC. For the (P/Ti-1/2)15@AC DeNOx, its relative better porous structure (SBET = 364 m2/g, Vmic = 0.156 cm3/g) makes better mass transfer and more active sites exposure, stronger surface acidity (C–O, 19.43%; C=O, 4.16%) is more favorable to the NH3 adsorption, and Ti, Mn and Fe formed bridge structure fasted the lactic oxygen recovery and electron transfer. The DeNOx of (P/Ti-1/2)15@AC followed both the E–R and L–H mechanism, both the gaseous and adsorbed NO reacted with the activated NH3 due to the active sites provided by both the carbon and titanium.

Properties change of activated coke for sintering flue gas purification in cyclic removal of SO2 and NOx

The properties of activated coke (AC) for sintering flue gas purification greatly affect the efficiency of desulfurization and denitration, but they gradually change during cycles. The change in properties of coal-based AC during cycles was studied to clarify the change law and AC optimization index. The AC oxygen content rapidly increases from 13.49 to 17.87 wt.% in the early cycles to form phenol, which promotes the denitration rate from 55.63% to 78.20%. The denitration performance slowly increases in subsequent cycles because of the generation of quinone from AC slow oxidation. However, the oxygen-containing groups are not conducive to adsorption capacity of AC for NO. The adsorbed NO species which can be replaced by SO2 is the main NO species on AC, and its amount decreases with the decrease in C=C content of AC. The AC chemical loss leads to the opening of closed pores, expansion of original pores and formation of new pores, causing micropore volume to increase from 0.085% to 0.152%, compressive strength to decrease from 472 to 336 N, and abrasive resistance to decrease from 97.87% to 94.16% during cycles. The low oxygen content and high micropore volume are favorable to the initial desulfurization performance, and the former is more decisive. After a while, the desulfurization rate is linearly positively correlated with the micropore volume regardless of the chemistry. 4-h desulfurization rate increased from 69.03% to 85.91% during 25 cycles due to the increasing micropore volume. The AC properties change in cycles will greatly affect the desulfurization and denitration rate in the height direction of the flue gas purification system. Selecting the coal-based AC with moderate micropore volume, easy oxidation surface and less original oxygen-containing groups facilitates the better purification efficiency at lower cost for sintering plants.

The mechanism of microwave-induced discharge between submillimeter active coke

Microwave-induced active coke discharge has been used in much research related to the environment and energy due to its kinetics and thermal effect. However, the mechanisms of discharge for submillimeter particles are still not clear. This paper presents evidence that the particle shape and gap distance between particles are the possible mechanisms of the microwave discharge. This paper also gives the scope of application of several mechanisms for different particulate materials. Submillimeter particles with about 40–110° tip angle and micron gap distance have the best effect on microwave electric field enhancement. The gap effect is only applicable to materials with a large refractive index, in detail, n > 3 or k > 2 for a 300 μm particle. When the gap distance is too narrow, the electron loss from gap to particle surfaces is large enough, leading to the failure of discharge.

Producing elemental sulfur from SO2 by calcium loaded activated coke: Enhanced activity and selectivity

SO2 carbothermal reduction is one of the promising strategies to convert SO2 to elemental sulfur, while the long-term challenge is to simultaneously improve the reactivity and selectivity. In this work, we demonstrate an effective approach for enhancing both the activity and selectivity of activated coke (AC) for SO2 carbothermal reduction by controllably loading catalytic Ca species. Ca-loaded ACs were prepared via a simple ultrasound assisted liquid phase impregnation method, in which the pore structure as well as CaCl2 distribution in Ca-loaded ACs can be optimized by tuning CaCl2 loading content. Dynamic experiments show that CaCl2-loaded ACs exhibit much higher SO2 removal rates as compared with pure AC, indicating the promoting role of Ca loading in SO2 carbothermal reduction activity. Such enhanced activity of CaCl2-loaded ACs is attributed to the decrease of activation energy according to the kinetic parameters calculated from Random Pore Model (RPM). By calculating and correlating the amounts of consumed reactants and reaction products, AC loaded with 30- wt% CaCl2 can achieve a record-high elemental sulfur production selectivity of 80%, which should be contributed by both the reactions of SO2 + C → CO2 + S and 2CO + SO2 → 2CO2 + S. Chemical environment investigations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate that the C-O-Ca structure in Ca-loaded AC can weaken the C-O bond in reaction intermediates and thereby reduce the energy needed for O transfer, making SO2 reduction feasible to occur. In addition, we also evaluate the recyclability of catalyst CaCl2 that is proven to be easily recovered and recirculated. This work provides a facile strategy to improve the reactivity and selectivity for SO2 carbothermal reduction, holding great application potentials in flue gas desulfurization.

Novel Ni‐Mn Bi‐oxides Doped Active Coke Catalysts for NH3‐SCR De‐NOx at Low Temperature

AbstractVarious Ni−Mn bi‐oxides doped active coke catalysts were investigated by traditional impregnation method (IM), deposition precipitation (DP), hydrothermal synthesis (HS) and oxidation reduction (OR) method for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3 at low temperature. Compared with the four preparation methods to synthesize MnOx/AC−N catalyst, the test shows that MnOx/AC−N (DP) achieved NOx conversion above 80 % at 200–250 °C and MnOx/AC−N (HS) gave its > 70 % SCR activity at > 225 °C. MnOx/AC−N (IM) achieves 63 % NO conversion at 200 °C. It is worth noting that MnOx/AC−N (OR) exhibits less than 50 % NOx conversion over temperature range. Therefore, the activity of Co‐modified MnOx/AC−N prepared by IM, DP and HS methods was tested. The SCR activities at 200 °C was in the order of Mn2NiOx/AC−N (DP, 97 %) > Mn2NiOx/AC−N (IM, 94 %)≈Mn2NiOx/AC−N (HS, 93 %). The activity test results indicate that Ni‐modification has a clear promoting effects on the SCR activity and resistance to SO2, which might be attributed to more (Mn3++Mn4+), high contents of Mn3+/Mn4+ and Ni3+/Ni2+. These catalysis were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectra (Raman), Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD and Raman results indicated those samples showed the NiMn2O4 spinel and MnO2 phases, Mn2NiOx/AC−N (DP) might present the highly uniform dispersion, and Mn2NiOx/AC−N (HS) has the strong interaction between carbon supports and surface active components. Importantly, Mn2NiOx/AC−N (HS) catalyst has the great advantages of high selectivity to N2 and good resistance to SO2 (with the lowest loss proportion of NOx conversion). The spinel‐structured NiMn2O4 probably configured by [Ni2+Mn4+]tet[Ni2+Ni3+Mn3+Mn4+]octO4 might be one important reason for their good activity and high resistance to SO2, in which the Mn3+ and Ni3+ ions might be filled into the inside spinel‐crystal wrapped by a large number of outside Ni2+ and Mn4+. It was suggested that this configstruct was highly conducive to protect active sites from the sulfurization poisoning, benefiting from the efficient electronic interactions between Mn and Ni in VI‐octahedral sites expressed as Ni3++Mn3+↔Ni2++Mn4+. This electronic transfers might be closely related to the activation of NO and NH3 during SCR reaction.

Bimetallic and Polymetallic Oxide Modification of Activated Coke by a One-Step Blending Method for Highly Efficient SO2 Removal

Bimetallic and polymetallic oxide-modified activated coke (AC) prepared by a one-step blending method and its desulfurization application were studied in this work. The bimetallic and polymetallic ...

The simultaneous removal of SO2 and NO from flue gas over activated coke in a multi-stage fluidized bed at low temperature

A multi-stage fluidized bed (MSFB) process was explored to simultaneously remove the SO2 and NOx from flue gas by use of activated coke (AC) as active medium in low temperature range of 100–200 °C. The various technological tests (e.g., temperature, feeding rate, superficial gas velocity, bed numbers) were carried out to make clear the removal features of SO2 and NOx in MSFB system. The MSFB process could not only increase both the removal efficiency and capacity of SO2 over AC, but also eliminate SO2 in the first layer of bed to avoid poisoning the AC by ammonium sulphate in upper beds for denitration. 100% desulfurization efficiency and 73.2% denitration efficiency could be acquired over regenerated AC through the four-stage bed at 180 °C in the presence of 10 vol% H2O, which was even much more efficient than moving bed process. Moreover, the fresh AC could be activated after the use/regeneration circulation of AC, and the removal efficiency for both SO2 and NO was significantly elevated over the regenerated AC. The multiple structural characterizations (BET, FT-IR, TPD, XPS) revealed that the microporous structure of regenerated AC was expanded with increased surface area and pore volume to provide more adsorption sites for SO2, and meanwhile abundant surface nitrogen/sulfur/oxygen groups were produced as catalytic sites for denitration, accounting for the significantly promoted removal efficiency over the regenerated AC. The demonstrated advantages of MSFB system signify its promising application prospect for the simultaneous removal of SO2 and NOx in industry.

Promotional removal of gas-phase Hg0 over activated coke modified by CuCl2.

Impregnating CuCl2 on AC (activated coke) support to synthesize xCuCl2/AC showed superior activity with higher 90% Hg0 removal efficiency at 80-140 °C, as well as a lower oxygen demand of 2% O2 for Hg0 removal. The acceleration on Hg0 removal was observed for NO and SO2. The BET, SEM, XRD, XPS, TPD, and FT-IR characterizations revealed that the larger surface area, sufficient active oxygen species and co-existence of Cu+ and Cu2+ may account for the efficient Hg0 removal. In addition, the low demand of gaseous O2 was contributed to higher content of active oxygen and formed active Cl. After adsorbing on Cu sites, Cl sites, and surface functional groups, the Hg0(ads) removal on xCuCl2/AC was proceeded through two ways. Part of Hg0(ads) was oxidized by active O and formed Hg0, and the other part of Hg0 combined with the active Cl, which was formed by the activation of lattice Cl with the aid of active O, and formed HgCl2. Besides, the Hg2+ detected in outlet gas through mercury speciation conversion and desorption peak of HgCl2 and Hg0 further proved it. As displayed in stability test and simulated industrial application test, CuCl2/AC has a promising industrial application prospect.

Microwave Plasma-Assisted Catalytic Reduction of NO by Active Coke over Transition-Metal Oxides

Microwave discharge plasma using catalyst-assisted active coke (Fe/AC, Mn/AC, Cu/AC) provides high performances for NO reduction at lower power (200 W) in this study. Results show that the effect of plasma and catalysis not only enhances the ability of plasma to remove NO, but also reduces the energy consumption of reaction; especially, Fe/AC increased the removal efficiency by nearly 64.8% compared with original coke. Plasma intensity was enhanced with the polarization increased by catalysts, giving better denitration performance. All the metal oxides studied catalyze the NO–carbon reaction, and the metal oxides had the tendency to be reduced. What is more, the catalysts increase the polarization of active coke, accelerating the rate of the temperature rise in the microwave field and increase the content of oxygen-containing functional groups, thereby promoting the C–NO reaction.

On mechanism of formation of SBA-15/furfuryl alcohol-derived mesoporous carbon replicas and its relationship with catalytic activity in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene

Abstract A series of CMK-3-like carbon replicas was synthesized by precipitation polycondensation of furfuryl alcohol in an aqueous slurry of SBA-15 at a polymer/SiO2 mass ratio of 0.50–2.00. Changes in textural and structural parameters of SBA-15 after polymer deposition were studied by N2 adsorption and X-ray diffraction. Morphology of the replicas was investigated by transmission electron microscopy, while their surface composition was determined by temperature-programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The mechanism of deposition of poly(furfuryl alcohol) (PFA) onto silica surface was elucidated. It was found that PFA accumulates in SBA-15 pores randomly; certain channels are completely filled, while others remain partially empty. The incomplete filling of mesopores results in “pseudo-CMK-3” structures featuring the bimodal porosity (the typical mesopores of CMK-3 are accompanied by broader ones formed by the coalescence of adjacent partially hollow pores). The total filling of pores with PFA leads to the formation of good-quality CMK-3. The carbon replicas exhibited the presence of abundant amounts of superficial oxygen-containing moieties. These entities are responsible for high activity of the materials in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethylbenzene, bringing evidence supporting the mechanism of active coke, considered as governing the catalytic performance of carbon materials in ODH of alkanes.

Enhancement of the denitrification efficiency over low‐rank activated coke by doping with transition metal oxides

AbstractLow‐rank activated coke (AC) is widely used for industrial flue gas purification due to its multipollutant cooperative removal capability. To enhance the denitrification capacity of AC for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3, several transition metal (Fe, Mn, Ce, V) oxides were uniformly loaded into AC by solvent impregnation. Compared to untreated AC, modified AC showed excellent denitrification efficiency above 90%. N2 adsorption‐desorption and Raman spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize the pore size distribution and crystal structure of AC samples. The introduction of transition metal oxides had little effect on the pore structure of AC but increased the nitrogen‐containing functional groups, which facilitated NO removal. Moreover, x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to analyze the valence changes of metal elements before and after denitrification. After the reaction, the content increase of the low‐valence metal oxides indicated that the transition metal oxides were involved in the reaction of NO with NH3. High‐valence metal oxides oxidized NO to NO2, which reacts more easily with NH3, thereby increasing the denitrification efficiency. Importantly, in the presence of SO2, modified AC still presented high denitrification performance. This transition metal oxides doping method can effectively improve the ability of low‐rank AC to remove NO in multi‐contaminant flue gas.

Regeneration performance of activated coke for elemental mercury removal by microwave and thermal methods

The purpose of this study was to recover mercury and reuse active coke in the field of active coke adsorption of Hg0. The powdered active coke (AC) with high adsorption performance of Hg0 was prepared by a simple way. The regeneration characteristics of AC as a Hg0 sorbent were also investigated using microwave (MG-AC) and thermal methods (TG-AC). Of the two regeneration methods, microwave heating exhibited a faster heating rate to achieve complete regeneration. Following regeneration, adsorption performance of regenerated AC increased due to AC reactivation by microwave. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Laser particle size analyzer were used to analyze surface physical and chemical properties as well as particle size distribution of the samples. The results indicated that regeneration could greatly influence properties of AC, such as specific surface area, pore structure, surface chemical functional groups, and average particle size. Thermal methods had higher desorption content (CO2, CO and NO) than microwave methods. Hence, microwave regeneration had a smaller carbon consumption of 0.12% compared to thermal methods (0.23%). The Hg0 that desorbed from AC was collected using the deep adsorption technique in order to avoid secondary pollution.

Investigation on mercury removal and recovery based on enhanced adsorption by activated coke

This work is to systematically study the mercury-removal behavior of activated coke (AC), regeneration of spent AC by microwave treatment and subsequent recycling of Hg0. The powdery (AC) was obtained under coal-fired hot gas conditions in a drop-tube reactor. The adsorption mechanism and capacity of the AC for Hg0 removal in a H2O + SO2 + O2 atmosphere were investigated. The regeneration of the AC by microwave heating and recovery of Hg0 were studied. The results showed that this AC preparation method can greatly simplify the process, and the AC’s large surface area, developed pore structure, and abundant functional groups played a key role in the adsorption of Hg0. The adsorption mechanism and the optimum reaction conditions were determined, with a highest average Hg0-adsorption efficiency of 91% obtained at 70 °C in 3 h. Desorption of Hg0 was also studied, in which the alkaline-functional-group content and pore structure were enhanced, and S was detected by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in microwave-regenerated AC, which could improve the Hg0 removal efficiency increased to 96% after five adsorption/desorption cycles. The Hg0 could subsequently be recovered from the desorbed gas by condensation with an efficiency of 87.4% using ice-water.

Surface chemical properties and pore structure of the activated coke and their effects on the denitrification activity of selective catalytic reduction

In order to study the mechanism of selective catalytic reduction of activated coke to remove NO in low-temperature flue gas and provide some theoretical basis for the development of related technologies. The pore size distribution and BET specific surface area of AC were obtain by data analyzing of N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm at − 196 °C and carbon matrix and surface chemistry of virgin activated coke samples were characterized by acid–base titration and XPS. The process of selective catalytic reduction of activated coke (AC) samples with NH3 as reducing agent was studied in a fixed bed reactor at 150 °C. The result shows that pore size distribution or BET specific surface of activated cokes have not correlation with denitrification activity for SCR. The NO reduction activities of the activated cokes are apparent to increase with their surface oxygen element content and total amount of acidic sites. Obviously there is good linear relationship between the NH3 adsorption capacity and activity for SCR with linear correlation coefficient 0.943. It has been presented that adsorption of NH3 on acidic functional groups in the edge of large polycyclic aromatic ring of activated coke is key rate controlling step in the SCR heterogeneous catalytic reaction.

A sulfur-resistant CuS-modified active coke for mercury removal from municipal solid waste incineration flue gas.

Adsorption is a typical method for air pollutant removal from flue gas. A CuS-modified active coke (CuS/AC) sorbent was developed to improve the elemental mercury removal efficiency from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) flue gas. The influences of the loading amount of CuS, reaction temperature, and flue gas components including O2, SO2, H2O, and HCl on Hg0 removal efficiency were investigated, respectively. The results showed that the mercury adsorption capacity of CuS/AC(20%) sorbent was about 7.17 mg/g with 50% breakthrough threshold, which is much higher than that of virgin active coke. The analysis of XPS indicated that HgS was the main species of mercury on spent CuS/AC, which implied that adsorption and oxidation were both included in Hg0 removal. S22- played a vital role in the oxidation of physically adsorbed Hg0. Meanwhile, the common components of MSWI flue gas exhibited no significant inhibition effect on Hg0 removal by CuS/AC sorbent. CuS/AC sorbent is a promising sorbent for the mercury removal from MSWI flue gas.