Mercury in natural gas streams: A review of materials and processes for abatement and remediation

Mercury in natural gas streams: A review of materials and processes for abatement and remediation

Natural gas

Waste disposal

Corrosion

Activated carbon

Desulfurization

Hydrogen sulfide

Catalyst poisoning

Gas emissions

Greenhouse gases

Oil field equipment

Petroleum prospecting

Natural gasoline plants

Ionic liquids

Sulfur compounds

Zeolites

Accident prevention

Natural gas deposits

Renewable energy resources

Health risks

Gas producers

The role of natural gas in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and advancing renewable energy resource integration is undoubtedly critical. With the progress of hydrocarbons exploration and production, the target zones become deeper and the possibility of mercury contamination increases. This impacts on the industry from health and safety risks, due to corrosion and contamination of equipment, to catalyst poisoning and toxicity through emissions to the environment. Especially mercury embrittlement, being a significant problem in LNG plants using aluminum cryogenic heat exchangers, has led to catastrophic plant incidents worldwide. The aim of this review is to critically discuss the conventional and alternative materials as well as the processes employed for mercury removal during gas processing. Moreover, comments on studies examining the geological occurrence of mercury species are included, the latest developments regarding the detection, sampling and measurement are presented and updated information with respect to mercury speciation and solubility is displayed. Clean up and passivation techniques as well as disposal methods for mercury-containing waste are also explained. Most importantly, the environmental as well as the health and safety implications are addressed, and areas that require further research are pinpointed. 2019 Elsevier B.V.

382

Journal of Hazardous Materials

2020

Chalkidis, Anastasios

Jampaiah, Deshetti

Hartley, Patrick G.

Sabri, Ylias M.

Bhargava, Suresh K.

journalArticle

3043894

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121036