Sulfur-Leaching Facts from Sulfur-Impregnated Porous Carbons in the Mercury Removal Process

The use of sulfur-impregnated porous carbon is widely adopted industrially for gas-phase mercury removal. It is claimed that it suffers from the disadvantage of sulfur leaching because of condensation of lighter hydrocarbons in the micropores of the porous carbon. To quantify the claim of sulfur leaching because of solubilization, specific experiments to assess the leaching of sulfur from sulfur-impregnated and metal-sulfide-based porous carbons were conducted. The results indicate a large variability in the sulfur-leaching capacity depending upon the source of sulfur-impregnated porous carbon. The work concludes the importance of the sulfur-impregnation protocol to minimize the sulfur leaching.