RESUMO
The aqueous phase oxidation of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg(0)) by potassium persulfate (KPS) catalyzed by Ag(+) was investigated using a glass bubble column reactor. Concentration of gaseous mercury and potassium persulfate were measured by cold vapor atom absorption (CVAA) and ion chromatograph (IC), respectively. The effects of pH value, concentration of potassium persulfate and silver nitrate (SN), temperature, Hg(0) concentration in the reactor inlet and tertiary butanol (TBA), free radical scavenger, on the removal efficiency of Hg(0) were studied. The results showed that the removal efficiency of Hg(0) increased with increasing concentration of potassium persulfate and silver nitrate, while temperature and TBA were negatively effective. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of Hg(0) was much better in neutral solution than in both acidic and alkaline solution. But the influence of pH was almost eliminated by adding AgNO(3). High Hg(0) concentration has positive effect. The possible reaction mechanism of gaseous mercury was also discussed.