The synthetic evaluation of CuO-MnOx-modified pinecone biochar for simultaneous removal formaldehyde and elemental mercury from simulated flue gas.

A series of low-cost Cu-Mn-mixed oxides supported on biochar (CuMn/HBC) synthesized by an impregnation method were applied to study the simultaneous removal of formaldehyde (HCHO) and elemental mercury (Hg0) at 100-300° C from simulated flue gas. The metal loading value, Cu/Mn molar ratio, flue gas components, reaction mechanism, and interrelationship between HCHO removal and Hg0 removal were also investigated. Results suggested that 12%CuMn/HBC showed the highest removal efficiency of HCHO and Hg0 at 175° C corresponding to 89%and 83%, respectively. The addition of NO and SO2 exhibited inhibitive influence on HCHO removal. For the removal of Hg0, NO showed slightly positive influence and SO2 had an inhibitive effect. Meanwhile, O2 had positive impact on the removal of HCHO and Hg0. The samples were characterized by SEM, XRD, BET, XPS, ICP-AES, FTIR, and H2-TPR. The sample characterization illustrated that CuMn/HBC possessed the high pore volume and specific surface area. The chemisorbed oxygen (Oβ) and the lattice oxygen (Oα) which took part in the removal reaction largely existed in CuMn/HBC. What is more, MnO2 and CuO (or Cu2O) were highly dispersed on the CuMn/HBC surface. The strong synergistic effect between Cu-Mn mixed oxides was critical to the removal reaction of HCHO and Hg0 via the redox equilibrium of Mn4+ + Cu+ ↔ Mn3+ + Cu2+.