Simultaneous removal of NO/sub x/, SO/sub x/, and CO/sub 2/ at elevated temperature using a plasma-chemical hybrid process

In previous studies, the authors confirmed that the plasma-chemical combined hybrid process for controlling NO flue gas emission was extremely effective and economical in comparison with the conventional selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system and other technologies. In the present study, we carried out experiments on the simultaneous removal of NO/sub x/ and SO/sub x/ at elevated temperature using the plasma-chemical hybrid process. A series of experiments was performed to quantify all the reaction byproducts such as N/sub 2/O, CO, HNO/sub 2/, HNO/sub 3/, NO/sub 3//sup -/, and SO/sub 4//sup -/ to evaluate the simultaneous NO/sub x/ and SO/sub x/ removal efficiency. The oxidation from NO to NO/sub 2/ without decreasing NO/sub x/ concentration (i.e., minimum reaction byproducts) and with least power consumption is the key for the optimum operation of the plasma reactor. The produced NO/sub 2/ was totally converted to N/sub 2/ and Na/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ with Na/sub 2/SO/sub 3/ or Na/sub 2/S with and without NaOH using the barrier-type packed-bed plasma reactor followed by the packed-column chemical reactor. The NO/sub 2/ reduction was more effective for Na/sub 2/S than Na/sub 2/SO/sub 3/ but produces H/sub 2/S with Na/sub 2/S. For both cases at least five times the stoichiometric amount of chemicals were required for complete NO/sub 2/ reduction. Nearly 100% of NO/sub x/ and SO /sub 2/ and 40% Of CO/sub 2/ simultaneous removal were achieved with less than 5 ppm of N/sub 2/O and CO. The operating cost was less than 1/4 the SCR process. The additional SO/sub 2/ treatment system can be eliminated.