Online detection and measurement of elemental mercury vapor by ion mobility spectrometry with chloroform dopant.

A rapid and simple method is proposed for detection of elemental mercury (Hg) vapor by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). Negative corona discharge (CD) as the ionization source and chloroform as the dopant gas were used to produce Cl- reactant ion. A mass spectrum of the product ions confirmed that the mechanism of ionization is based on Cl- anion attachment to Hg and formation of HgCl- ion. It was found that the optimum drift gas temperature for Hg detection was about 160 °C and the drift gas flow rate should be minimized and just sufficient to clear contaminants and carry-over from the drift cell. The drift time of the HgCl- peak relative to that of the Cl- peak at 160 °C is 1.52 ms corresponding to the reduced mobility of 1.90 cm2/Vs. Because many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as alcohols, amines, aldehydes, ketones, and alkanes are not ionized in the negative mode of CD-IMS, these compounds do not interfere with the detection of Hg. Mercaptans peaks also did not show any interference with the Hg signal. Hence, the method is highly selective for detection of Hg in natural gas containing sulfur compounds. The detection limit of Hg obtained by the proposed method was 0.07 mg/m3. The method was successfully verified in determination of the mercury vapor content of a fluorescent lamp, as a real sample.

Preparation of amine functionalized reduced graphene oxide/methyl diethanolamine nanofluid and its application for improving the CO2 and H2S absorption.

A novel approach was examined by addition of amine-modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to amine solutions in order to enhance the CO2 absorption capacity of amine solutions. Amine functionalized reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) nanofluid was prepared for absorption of acid gases (CO2, H2S). GO was synthesized via a modified hummer method and functionalized through solvothermal method. As-synthesized NH2-rGO was characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, FTIR, EDX and XPS analysis to determine the structure. NH2-rGO was dispersed in MDEA and displayed excellent stability verified by zeta potential analysis. NH2-rGO/MDEA nanofluid showed high absorption capacity toward CO2 and H2S. The absorption capacity of the solution for CO2 and H2S was promoted up to 16.2% and 17.7%, respectively. Solubility results showed a reverse relationship with increasing temperature. Comparison of solubility data revealed that introducing 0.1 wt% NH2-rGO to 40 wt% had a greater enhancement relative to introducing 0.1 wt% GO to the same solution.