Multi-weight isotherm results for mercury removal in upper East Fork Popular Creek water

摘要

Many sorbents have been developed for the removal of mercury and heavy metals from waters; however, the majority of data published to date do not address the removal of mercury to the target levels represented in this project. The application to which these sorbents are targeted for use is the removal of mercury from microgram-per-liter levels to low nanogram-per-liter levels. Sorbents with thiouronium, thiol, amine, sulfur, and proprietary functional groups were selected for these studies. The initial mercury content in the majority of the batch samples was significantly augmented so that the equilibrium concentration was similar to that found in the original stream sample for at least one sample. Mercury was successfully removed from actual water via adsorption onto Ionac SR-4 (by Sybron Chemicals, Inc.), Keyle:X (by SolmeteX), and Mersorb (by Nucon International, Inc.) resins to levels below the target goal of 12 ng/L. A thiol-based resin (Ionac SR-4) performed the best, indicating that over 200,000 volumes of water could be treated with one volume of resin. The cost of the resin is approximately $0.24 per 1000 gal of water.