Catalytic removal of SO2, NO and HCl from incineration flue gas over activated carbon-supported metal oxides

Abstract Activated carbon-supported copper, iron, or vanadium oxide catalysts were exposed to incineration flue gas to investigate the simultaneous catalytic oxidation of sulfur dioxide/hydrogen chloride and selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxide by carbon monoxide. The results show that AC-supported catalysts exhibit higher activities for SO 2 and HCl oxidation than traditional γ-Al 2 O 3 -supported catalysts and the iron and vanadium catalysts act as catalysts instead of sorbents, and can decompose sulfate with evolution of SO 3 and then regenerate for more SO 2 adsorption to take place. The AC-supported catalysts also display a high activity for NO reduction with CO generated from a flue gas incineration process and the presence of SO 2 in the incineration flue gas can significantly promote catalytic activity. Using CO as the reducing agent for NO reduction is more effective than using NH 3 , because NH 3 may be partially oxidized in the presence of excess O 2 (12 vol%. in the incineration flue gas used) to form N 2 , which can decrease the overall extent of NO reduction.