Impact of calcium chloride addition on mercury transformations and control in coal flue gas

Pilot-scale experiments were conducted to investigate mercury transformations in coal flue gas when firing subbituminous coal with a CaCl₂ additive. Cofiring the CaCl₂ additive with the subbituminous coal resulted in approximately 50% oxidized mercury, as a result of reactive chlorine species formed in coal flue gas, compared to the dominance of elemental mercury in the baseline flue gas. The mercury data indicate that mercury-flue gas chemistry reactions may occur at fairly high temperatures (>400 °C) in chlorine-enriched flue gas. Field tests were conducted to further demonstrate the impact of cofiring CaCl₂ on the eventual fate of mercury. These tests were completed on a 650-MW subbituminous coal-fired power plant equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), a fabric filter (FF), and a wet scrubber. Overall mercury removals across the SCR-FF-wet scrubber system ranged from 75% to 96% with 200-800 ppm (coal basis) chlorine addition compared to 18-32% during baseline operations. Field data indicate that the SCR enhanced mercury oxidation, possibly as a result of the supplemental formation of reactive chlorine species and the aid of the SCR catalyst. As a result, most of the mercury in the flue gas was in an oxidized state and was removed in the downstream wet scrubber, indicating that cofiring CaCl₂ is an effective mercury control approach for a subbituminous coal-fired plant equipped with an SCR and wet scrubber.