Development of mercury and chloride monitors for coal gasifiers

Ames Laboratory will develop an integrated sampling and analysis system suitable for on-line monitoring of mercury (Hg) and hydrogen chloride (HCl) in advanced coal-based gasifiers. The objectives of this project are to (1) summarize current technology for monitoring Hg and HCl in gaseous effluents; (2) identify analytical techniques for such determinations in high-temperature, high-pressure gases from coal-based systems for producing electrical power; (3) evaluate promising analytical approaches, and (4) produce reliable on-line monitors which are adaptable to plant-scale diagnostics and process control. For HG, the techniques selected for further consideration were atomic absorption and atomic fluorescence. For HCl, non-dispersive infrared absorption, a dry colorimetric procedure, and ion mobility spectroscopy were selected for testing in the laboratory. Results to date are described