Detailed kinetic modeling of homogeneous mercury oxidation reactions in a 1000 Btu/hr quartz furnace

Bench-scale experiments are underway at the University of Utah to produce a mercury oxidation data set suitable for validation of a fundamental kinetic model of mercury chemistry in combustion flue gas and for mechanism development. Homogeneous mercury reactions involving chlorine have been investigated under two different quench conditions. Experimental facilities include a mercury reactor fittted with a 1000 Btu/hr quartz-glass burner and a quartz reaction chamber 5 cm in diameter and 127 cm in length. While operated with a temperature profile representative of a typical boiler, a residence time of 8 seconds is achieved. Participating reacting species (chlorine, mercury) are introduced through the burner to produce a radical pool representative of real combustion systems. Speciated mercury measurements are performed using a Tekran 2537A Analyzer coupled with a conditioning system developed by Southern Research Institute. For these experimental conditions the extent of oxidation is predicted using a detailed kinetic model. Experiment and model results are compared and presented. The kinetic model reproduces the effects of quench rate and chlorine concentration in the flue gas observed in the experiments.