Advances in flue gas mercury abatement by mineral chalcogenides

[Display omitted] •A comprehensive review of mercury abatement by mineral chalcogenides was conducted.•Mercury removal performances of mineral chalcogenides and the primary influence factors were comprehensively summarized.•The involved mechanisms for mercury removal by mineral chalcogenides were discussed.•The restrictions and future perspectives for mercury adsorption by mineral chalcogenide were presented. Mercury contamination has attracted global attentions in the past decades, which posed great threats to the whole ecosystem and human health because of its cumulative hypertoxicity, persistence and migration in the atmosphere. Due to the inferior mercury capture performances and tedious modification procedures of carbon-based sorbents, mineral chalcogenides were regarded as the preferable candidates for gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) immobilization from industrial flue gas. Mineral chalcogenides exhibit several advantages, such as simple preparation, excellent capture performance, and less secondary pollution in Hg0 adsorption. This review focuses on the latest research advances in Hg0 abatement by mineral chalcogenides. At the beginning, the research status of different typical sorbents for Hg0 removal was overviewed. Then, the performances and application conditions of most mineral chalcogenides for Hg0 removal were introduced in detail. The Hg0 adsorption performance comparison of various mineral chalcogenides was also conducted. Moreover, the influential factors, i.e. reaction temperature, flue gas components, and involved mechanisms for Hg0 removal over different mineral chalcogenides were discussed comprehensively. The objective of this review was to strengthen the comprehension of the developing field and generalize the research directions in the future.