Patent ID: 7037474

Claim:
In a method using a scrubber, having a scrubber liquor containing an aqueous alkali reagent, for receiving and scrubbing an industrial gas with the scrubbing liquor, the improvement comprising: providing an industrial gas containing oxidized mercury to a scrubber; providing an aqueous sulfide species selected from the group consisting of: sodium sulfide, potassium sulfide, sodium hydrosulfide, potassium hydrosulfide, sulfidic waste water, kraft caustic liquor and kraft carbonate liquor to the scrubber; creating a gas-liquid interface within the scrubber and mixing the industrial gas with the aqueous sulfide species in order to rapidly precipitate the oxidized mercury at the gas-liquid interface, thereby producing a mercury-free industrial gas within the scrubber wherein the precipitated mercury remains in the scrubbing liquor; and subsequently removing the mercury-free industrial gas from the scrubber.