People have been concerned about mercury emissions for decades because of the extreme toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation of methyl Hg transformed from emitted Hg. This paper presents an overview of research related to mercury control technology and identifies areas requiring additional research and development. It critically reviews measured mercury emissions progress in the development of promising control technologies. This review provides useful information to scientists and engineers in this field.

Public concern has recently increased over the potential risk of toxic elements emitted from anthropogenic sources. Among these, mercury has drawn special attention owing to its increasing level of bioaccumulation in the environment and in the food chain, with potential risks for human health. This paper presents an overview of research related to mercury control technology and identifies areas requiring additional research and development. It critically reviews measured mercury emissions progress in the development of promising control technologies, including catalytic oxidation, sorbent injection, photochemistry oxidation, and air pollution control devices.

Mercury has been identified as a potential health and environmental hazardous material. Activated carbon adsorption offers promising potential for the control of mercury emissions, and sulfur impregnated (sulfurized) activated carbons has been shown to be an effective sorbent for the removal of vapor phase Hg˚ from sources. In this work, vapor phase mercury adsorption by sulfur impregnated activated carbons were investigated. Sulfur impregnated activated carbons were made by variation of impregnation temperature, and the comparison of adsorption characteristics with commercial virgin and sulfurized carbons were made. Factors affecting the adsorption capacity of virgin and sulfurized activated carbons such as pore characteristics, functional groups and sulfur impregnation conditions were discussed. It was found that the sulfur allotropes plays a critical role in adsorption of mercury vapor by sulfurized activated carbons.