The reduction of mercury emissions in currently existing coal-based power plant solutions by each method i.e. preliminary, primary and secondary (consisting of introducing coal into the combustion chamber and then removing mercury from the combustion gases arising from the combustion process) does not solve the problem of achieving the required limits by power plants. Therefore, the need has arisen to look for new, effective solutions.

The results presented in the work concern the analysis of environmental benefits for the use of zeolites obtained from by-products of coal combustion such as fly ash (from hard coal and lignite) in technologies for removing gaseous forms of mercury. The tested zeolites were silver-modified X-type structures. The reference material in the considerations was active carbon impregnated with bromine – a commercially available sorbent on the market.

The article considers environmental benefits resulting from the use of tested zeolites taking the product life cycle, sorbent efficiency and the possibility of its regeneration compared to activated carbon (AC/Br) into account. The LCA analysis was performed taking the estimated material and energy balances of the manufacturing processes into account. When comparing the production process of type X zeolite materials on the processing line and activated carbons in the amount necessary to capture 375 g Hg from exhaust gases, the LCA analysis showed that zeolites contribute to a lower potential impact on the environment. The advantage is that 5 times less zeolite sorbent than activated carbons is needed to capture the same amount of mercury. In addition, zeolite materials can be regenerated, which extends their life time