In this work, recent progress on graphene/metal oxide composites as advanced materials for HgCl2 and CO2 capture was investigated. Density Functional Theory calculations were used to understand the effects of temperature on the adsorption ability of HgCl2 and water vapor on CO2 adsorption on CaO (001) with reinforced carbon-based nanostructures using B3LYP functional. Understanding the mechanism by which mercury and CO2 adsorb on graphene/CaO (g-CaO) is crucial to the design and fabrication of effective capture technologies. The results obtained from the optimized geometries and frequencies of the proposed cluster site structures predicted that with respect to molecular binding the system possesses unusually large HgCl2 (0.1- 0.4 HgCl2 g/g sorbent) and CO2 (0.2-0.6 CO2 g/g sorbent) uptake capacities. The HgCl2 and CO2 were found to be stable on the surface as a result of the topology and a strong interaction with the g-CaO system; these results strongly suggest the potential of CaO-doped carbon materials for HgCl2 and CO2 capture applications, the functional gives reliable answers compared to available experimental data.

In this work, nanoporous carbons (NPCs) were prepared by the self-assembly of polymeric carbon precursors and block copolymer template in the presence of tetraethyl orthosilicate and colloidal silica. The NPCs' pore structures and total pore volumes were analyzed by reference to N2/77 K adsorption isotherms. The porosity and elemental mercury adsorption of NPCs were increased by activation with carbon dioxide. It could be resulted that elemental mercury adsorption ability of NPCs depended on their specific surface area and micropore fraction.

This study discusses regeneration of mercury-contaminated, activated carbon from adsorption in the mercuryrecovery process. Mercury in activated carbon was desorbed by thermal treatment, and the regeneration efficiency was confirmed by mercury content and iodine adsorption comparing new and spent activated carbon. Up to 95% of mercury desorbed and up to 86% adsorption performance regenerated at 673 K. Therefore, it is expected that activated carbon can be reused many times by regenerating it through thermal treatment without disposing of mercury-containing activated carbon.

하수슬러지의 발생량은 꾸준히 증가하고 있으며, 하수슬러지의 해양투기 금지로 인해 대체 처리 방안들이 요구되고 있다. 다양한 하수 슬러지 처리 방안들 중, 하수 슬러지를 이용한 활성탄의 제조는 슬러지를 폐기가 아닌 재이용하는 방안으로 제기되고 있다. 활성탄은 탄소 성분을 이용하여 제조되므로, 하수 슬러지를 이용하여 활성탄을 제조하는 것도 가능하다. 기존의 대기오염제어설비에서 쉽게 제거되지 않는 원소 수은은 활성탄 흡착을 통해 제거될 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 국내 하수처리장에서 발생한 건조슬러지를 이용하여 다양한 물리적 특성을 지닌 활성탄을 제조하였고, 수은 흡착 능력을 평가하였다. 그리고 다른 원료에서 제조된 활성탄과 수은 흡착 결과를 서로 비교하였다.