Removal of Hg²⁺ from flue gas by petroleum thioether

Petroleum thioether showed excellent flue gas de-Hg²+ ability to control mercury reemission. Petroleum thioether was prepared with high-sulfur crude oil as raw materials and characterized by FT-IR. The thioether group content was 0.104 g/g by the potentiometric titration with lead acetate as titrant. The Hg²⁺ removal performance of petroleum thioether was studied in simulated flue gas. The experiment results exhibited that petroleum thioether showed excellent Hg²⁺ removal efficiency in flue gas without threat of mercury reemission, and the process for Hg²⁺ capture by petroleum thioether was exothermic and went on smoothly below 60°C. 6 M HCl could be used to regenerate petroleum thioether trapped Hg²+, and there acquired a regeneration of 89.6%, which meant this Hg²+ removal treat showed low operation cost. Moreover, the regeneration of petroleum thioether captured Hg²⁺ facilitated the centralized processing of mercury and prepared well for the full utilization of mercury resources. (paper)