Mercury removal from flue gas using nitrate as an electron acceptor in a membrane biofilm reactor

Increased tightening of air regulations is leading more electric utilities to install flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. These systems produce brine containing high concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, and selenate which must be removed before discharge. The H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was shown to consistently remove nitrate, nitrite, and selenate at high efficiencies. The maximum selenate removal flux reached 362 mg Se m−2d−1 and was higher than that observed in earlier research, which shows continual improvement of the biofilm for selenate reduction. A low pH of 6.8 inhibited precipitation when treating actual FGD brine, yet did not inhibit removal. SO42− was not removed and therefore did not compete with nitrate, nitrite, and selenate reduction for the available H2.

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Electron‐acceptor loadings affect chloroform dechlorination in a hydrogen‐based membrane biofilm reactor

Biotechnology and Bioengineering ◽

10.1002/bit.26945 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (6) ◽

pp. 1439-1448 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

YenJung Sean Lai ◽

Aura Ontiveros‐Valencia ◽

Tamer Coskun ◽

Chen Zhou ◽

Bruce E. Rittmann

Keyword(s):

Electron Acceptor ◽

Biofilm Reactor ◽

Membrane Biofilm Reactor

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The removal of selenate to low ppb levels from flue gas desulfurization brine using the H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR)

Bioresource Technology ◽

10.1016/j.biortech.2011.03.010 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 102 (10) ◽

pp. 6360-6364 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Steven W. Van Ginkel ◽

Ziming Yang ◽

Bi-o Kim ◽

Mark Sholin ◽

Bruce E. Rittmann

Keyword(s):

Flue Gas ◽

Biofilm Reactor ◽

Flue Gas Desulfurization ◽

Membrane Biofilm Reactor

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Innovative Mercury Removal From Incinerator Flue Gas

Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation ◽

10.2175/193864715819541143 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 (13) ◽

pp. 4166-4170

Author(s):

Maureen O’Shaughnessy ◽

Frank Sapienza ◽

Peter Rynkiewicz ◽

Brian Whitaker ◽

Stephen M Bennett

Keyword(s):

Flue Gas ◽

Mercury Removal

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Low-Cost Organic Adsorbents for Elemental Mercury Removal from Lignite Flue Gas

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14082174 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 2174

Author(s):

Marta Marczak-Grzesik ◽

Stanisław Budzyń ◽

Barbara Tora ◽

Szymon Szufa ◽

Krzysztof Kogut ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Flue Gas ◽

Low Cost ◽

Elemental Mercury ◽

Mercury Content ◽

Flue Gases ◽

Mercury Removal ◽

Gas Purification ◽

Gas Temperature ◽

Corn Straw ◽

Flue Gas Purification

The research presented by the authors in this paper focused on understanding the behavior of mercury during coal combustion and flue gas purification operations. The goal was to determine the flue gas temperature on the mercury emissions limits for the combustion of lignites in the energy sector. The authors examined the process of sorption of mercury from flue gases using fine-grained organic materials. The main objectives of this study were to recommend a low-cost organic adsorbent such as coke dust (CD), corn straw char (CS-400), brominated corn straw char (CS-400-Br), rubber char (RC-600) or granulated rubber char (GRC-600) to efficiently substitute expensive dust-sized activated carbon. The study covered combustion of lignite from a Polish field. The experiment was conducted at temperatures reflecting conditions inside a flue gas purification installation. One of the tested sorbents—tire-derived rubber char that was obtained by pyrolysis—exhibited good potential for Hg0 into Hg2+ oxidation, resulting in enhanced mercury removal from the flue. The char characterization increased elevated bromine content (mercury oxidizing agent) in comparison to the other selected adsorbents. This paper presents the results of laboratory tests of mercury sorption from the flue gases at temperatures of 95, 125, 155 and 185 °C. The average mercury content in Polish lignite was 465 μg·kg−1. The concentration of mercury in flue gases emitted into the atmosphere was 17.8 µg·m−3. The study analyzed five low-cost sorbents with the average achieved efficiency of mercury removal from 18.3% to 96.1% for lignite combustion depending on the flue gas temperature.

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Mercury Removal from Flue Gas by Noncarbon Sorbents

Energy & Fuels ◽

10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c04207 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jianping Yang ◽

Hong Xu ◽

Yongchun Zhao ◽

Hailong Li ◽

Junying Zhang

Keyword(s):

Flue Gas ◽

Mercury Removal

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A membrane biofilm reactor achieves aerobic methane oxidation coupled to denitrification (AME-D) with high efficiency

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2008.648 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

pp. 83-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

O. Modin ◽

K. Fukushi ◽

F. Nakajima ◽

K. Yamamoto

Keyword(s):

Methane Oxidation ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Biofilm Reactor ◽

Practical Application ◽

Suspended Culture ◽

Consumption Ratio ◽

Membrane Biofilm Reactor ◽

Nitrate Consumption ◽

Attached Culture ◽

Aerobic Methanotrophs

Methane would potentially be an inexpensive, widely available electron donor for denitrification of wastewaters poor in organics. Currently, no methanotrophic microbe is known to denitrify. However, aerobic methane oxidation coupled to denitrification (AME-D) has been observed in several laboratory studies. In the AME-D process, aerobic methanotrophs oxidise methane and release organic metabolites and lysis products, which are used by coexisting denitrifiers as electron donors for denitrification. Due to the presence of oxygen, the denitrification efficiency in terms of methane-to-nitrate consumption is usually low. To improve this efficiency the use of a membrane biofilm reactor was investigated. The denitrification efficiency of an AME-D culture in (1) a suspended growth reactor, and (2) a membrane biofilm reactor was studied. The methane-to-nitrate consumption ratio for the suspended culture was 8.7. For the membrane-attached culture the ratio was 2.2. The results clearly indicated that the membrane-attached biofilm was superior to the suspended culture in terms of denitrification efficiency. This study showed that for practical application of the AME-D process, focus should be placed on development of a biofilm reactor.

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