Review Enhanced mercury adsorption in activated carbons from biomass materials and waste tires G. Skodras a,b,c, ⁎ , Ir. Diamantopoulou a , A. Zabaniotou d , G. Stavropoulos a , G.P. Sakellaropoulos a,b a Chemical Process Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece b Laboratory of Energy and Environmental Processes, Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute, Thessaloniki, Greece c Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Applications, Ptolemais, Greece d Chemical Process and Plant Design Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece Received 18 January 2007; received in revised form 8 February 2007; accepted 29 March 2007 Abstract Agricultural residues and waste tires constitute an important source of precursors for activated carbon production. Activated carbons offer a potential tool for mercury emissions control. In this work, pine and oak wood, olive seed and tire wastes have been used for the preparation of activated carbons, in order to be examined for their mercury removal capacity. In the case of activated carbons produced from pine/oak woods and tire wastes, a two stage physical activation procedure was applied. Activated carbons derived from olive seeds were prepared by chemical activation using KOH. Pore structure of the samples was characterized by N 2 and CO 2 adsorption, while TPD-IR experiments were performed in order to determine surface oxygen groups. Hg° adsorption experiments were realized in a bench-scale adsorption unit consisting of a fixed-bed reactor. The influence of activation technique and conditions on the resulted activated carbon properties was examined. The effects of pore structure and surface chemistry of activated carbons were also investigated. Activated carbons produced from olive seeds with chemical activation possessed the highest BET surface area with well-developed micropore structure, and the highest Hg° adsorptive capacity. Oxygen surface functional groups (mainly lactones) seem to be involved in Hg° adsorption mechanism. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ativated carbon; Biomass materials; Waste tires; Surface chemistry; Hg adsorption Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................. 750 2. Experimental ............................................................. 750 2.1. Sample preparation and characterization ........................................... 750 2.2. Hg° bench-scale adsorption tests ............................................... 751 3. Results and discussion ........................................................ 751 3.1. Pore structure characterization of the samples ........................................ 751 3.2. Surface chemistry characterization of the samples ...................................... 752 3.3. Mercury adsorption results .................................................. 756 4. Conclusions ............................................................. 757 References ................................................................. 758 Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 749 – 758 www.elsevier.com/locate/fuproc ⁎ Corresponding author. P.O. Box 1520, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece. Tel.: +30 2310 996260;fax: +30 2310 996168. E-mail address: ediamant@vergina.eng.auth.gr (I. Diamantopoulou). 0378-3820/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2007.03.008