TECHNOLOGY
Environmental Elements Corporation (EEC) has been awarded a patent for a method to oxidise mercury. The patent was awarded for a catalytic reactor to oxidise mercury vapour in a passing stream of flue gas created during combustion processes. The reactor captures the mercury by adsorption, and then oxidises it with a corona discharge plasma. The plasma, which is generated by an intense electric field, oxidises the mercury so that it may be captured by a conventional flue gas wet scrubber.
Power plants are estimated to account for 20-40 per cent of all atmospheric mercury.