Mercury release during thermal treatment of two Chinese coal gangues

The utilization of coal gangue in power plants has become a new anthropogenic discharge source of mercury and attracted much concern in China. It is crucial to obtain the information about the mercury release during thermal treatment of coal gangue. In this study, the mercury release behavior of two coal gangues selected from two power plants were studied under different thermal treatment conditions of heating rate, residence time, and atmosphere. The results of mercury release profile show that the specified release temperature ranges for the different modes of occurrence of Hg are scarcely affected by the heating rate of 10, 20, and 40 °C/min. A higher heating rate could promote the Hg release to some extent. The mercury release ratio gradually increases with the extension of residence time for both coal gangues. The oxidizing environment has a positive effect on mercury release < 600 °C and has a minor effect > 600 °C. Mercury in coal gangue is more volatile than coal gangue matrix and the mercury in GD coal gangue is more easily released out than that in ED coal gangue.