Abstract: The aqueous phase oxidation of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg⁰) by potassium persulfate (KPS) catalyzed by Ag⁺ was investigated using a glass bubble column reactor. Concentration of gaseous mercury and potassium persulfate were measured by cold vapor atom absorption (CVAA) and ion chromatograph (IC), respectively. The effects of pH value, concentration of potassium persulfate and silver nitrate (SN), temperature, Hg⁰ concentration in the reactor inlet and tertiary butanol (TBA), free radical scavenger, on the removal efficiency of Hg⁰ were studied. The results showed that the removal efficiency of Hg⁰ increased with increasing concentration of potassium persulfate and silver nitrate, while temperature and TBA were negatively effective. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of Hg⁰ was much better in neutral solution than in both acidic and alkaline solution. But the influence of pH was almost eliminated by adding AgNO₃. High Hg⁰ concentration has positive effect. The possible reaction mechanism of gaseous mercury was also discussed.

Key words: Potassium persulfate, Gaseous elemental mercury, Absorption, Reaction mechanism

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