Research status of elemental mercury removal from flue gas in non-ferrous metals production

Due to the toxicity, the volatility and the long-range transport of mercury, mercury pollution has become a global environment concern. At present, non-ferrous metallurgy is one of the main sources of atmospheric mercury emissions in China, accounting for about 30% of the total emissions. Facing the pressure posed by mercury pollution, people have considered investigation into the way to efficiently remove mercury from flue gas in non-ferrous metals production as hot researches. This paper expounds the transformation and the distribution rule of mercury in flue gas according to the characteristics of mercury emissions in the production of non-ferrous metals. Besides, the paper summarizes the research status of mercury pollution control in metallurgy. Removal methods such as condensation, adsorption, catalytic oxidation and liquid absorption were introduced in detail. In addition, the status of technologies for the prevention and the control of mercury pollution in non-ferrous metallurgy is summarized and the corresponding suggestions are proposed.