SBIR-STTR Award

Neutralizing Utility Mercury Control Sorbents for Fly Ash Use in Concrete
Award last edited on: 10/18/2019

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NSF
Total Award Amount
$975,000
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
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Principal Investigator
Qunhui Zhou

Company Information

Sorbent Technologies Corporation (AKA: Sanitech)

1664 East Highland Road Unit 10
Twinsburg, OH 44087
Location: Single
Congr. District: 14
County: Summit

Phase I

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase I year
2002
Phase I Amount
$100,000
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop inexpensive methods to pretreat commercial powdered activated carbons (PAC) used for power plant mercury control so that they will not interfere with effective use of fly ash in concretes. The objective of this project is to screen and optimize such pretreatment methods. Major project tasks include producing pretreated samples; testing for effects on AEAs, resulting cements, and mercury removal performance; and developing a fundamental understanding of the chemical processes involved. Carbon materials researchers at Brown University and their Energy and Environmental Technologies Laboratory will assist in the effort. Commercially the substitution of fly ash wastes for cement in construction applications is one of America.s biggest recycling successes. Unfortunately, it was recently discovered that if even minimal PAC is injected into power plant flue gases for mercury emission control, the fly ash will be rendered unusable for concrete. The highly-adsorbent carbons severely interfere with the air-entraining admixtures (AEAs) added to concrete for air entrainment and stabilization. The economic implications for utilities may be huge. Thus the PAC pretreatments developed here which minimize adverse effects on AEA while enhancing, or at least not degrading, PAC mercury removal performance are of prime importance.

Phase II

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase II year
2004
(last award dollars: 2006)
Phase II Amount
$875,000

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project proposes to optimize and commercially apply a newly discovered carbon material that simultaneously exhibits high gas-phase adsorption of mercury and low wet-concrete adsorption of organic surfactants. Such a material is necessary if coal-fired power plants are to inexpensively retrofit sorbent-injection technology to comply with new limits on mercury emissions while continuing to sell their fly ash wastes as substitutes for cement in concrete construction applications. The material will be tested at both the pilot and full scales, paving the way for product commercialization. The broader impact that could be achieved from this project will be a solution a serious pending economic and environment problem. The substitution of power-plant fly ash for manufactured Portland cement in construction applications is one of America's biggest recycling successes. Fly ash could lower the construction-industry concrete costs, increase the technical performance of the concretes, and preserve the environment by conserving energy and reducing both waste disposal and CO2 emissions