Recent advances on the adsorption and oxidation of mercury from coal-fired flue gas: A review

The removal of mercury from flue gases has been paid more attention nowadays due to its bioaccumulation, persistence and volatility. Herein, the recent advances in adsorption and oxidation of mercury (Hg) from coal-fired flue gases have been reviewed in details. The overview of mercury removal under the different coal-fired power plants are first summarized; Subsequently, the recent advances on the adsorption of mercury on various materials (i.e., carbon-, fly ash-, and metal-based adsorbents) and Hg0 catalytic oxidation on different metal-bearing catalysts (e.g., Ti-, Cu-, F-, Mn-, Ce-, V- bearing and other metal catalysts) under different environmental conditions are highlighted in details; Then adsorption and catalytic oxidation mechanism were reviewed; Lastly, the current challenges and further directions of mercury removal from flue gases are proposed. We expected that this review will shed light on the development of novel removal technologies of mercury from flue gas in actual environmental remediation.