(146c) A Quantitative Study of the Chlorine Atom Concentration in Plasma: A Step to Assess the Use of Chlorine as A Reagent Gas to Increase the Mercury Removal Efficiency of An Electrostatic Precipitator

Chlorine oxidizes elemental mercury to a mostly soluble species. The addition of chlorine gas into an electrostatic precipitator, used to clean flue gas from coal combustion, will thus increase the mercury removal efficiency in the precipitator. The determination of the chlorine atom concentration, formed inside the chamber, is a key to evaluate this efficiency. A series of experiments are performed to dissociate the chlorine gas in a corona-discharge field formed inside a 10X3 cm flow pyrex tube at P=1atm, and the chlorine atoms formed are measured by reacting them with butane. The reaction products are quantified and the determination of the chlorine concentration as a function of voltage supplied, chlorine injected and distance between the electrodes will help in optimizing the amount of chlorine reagent gas needed to be added to a precipitator to obtain enhanced mercury removal efficiency.