Application of solar thermal desorption to remediation of mercury-contaminated soils |
| |
Authors: | A Navarro I Cañadas J Rodriguez |
| |
Affiliation: | a Department of Fluid Mechanics, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), ETSEIT, Colón 11, 08222 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain b Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), Solar Platform of Almeria-CIEMAT, P.O. Box 22, Tabernas, E-04200 Almeria, Spain |
| |
Abstract: | Solar thermal desorption at temperatures up to 500 °C is an innovative technology applied to the removal of mercury and arsenic from soil polluted by mining operations. As the soil is heated in a low and high-temperature solar system, the pollutant vapor pressure rises, producing mass transfer to the gas phase, which is then extracted by vacuum pumps and blower systems.In the UPC low-temperature experiments, removal of mercury from the polluted soil was as much as 76%. The experimental results show that volatilization of mercury is only significant when the temperature is above approximately 130 °C, which agrees with the predominant mercury solid phases detected. PSA middle-temperature experiments, showed that when soil and mine waste samples were heated to 400-500 °C, mercury elimination was significant (41.3-87%). However, the results from heating to 320 °C or below 300 °C, indicated little or negligible removal, possibly, because the fluid dynamics in the fluidized-bed module and the presence of cinnabar and pyrite rich-Hg as dominant mineral phases.These results show the potential for efficiently removing mercury and other pollutants from solid matrices (soil, waste, etc.) at low temperatures. |
| |
Keywords: | Solar energy Desorption Mercury Soil contamination Mine wastes |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|