Catalytic combustion of coke nuts and in-situ NO reduction under the action of steel scale

Abstract Cheap, efficient and easily available catalysts are key factors for the industrial application of catalytic combustion of coal or coke. The coexistence of Fe with different valences makes the steel scale (SS) promising catalysts for coal/char combustion and in-situ reduction of NO emission. The feasibility of catalytic coke combustion and in-situ reduction of NO emission during combustion by SS was investigated in this paper. Thermogravimetric analysis validated that the addition of 6% SS resulted in the decrease of both burnout temperature and burnout time, increase of combustion and burnout index of coke nuts by 1.17 and 1.50 times, respectively, and the NO emission was reduced by 31.4%. Micro-sintering experiments demonstrated that NO emission could be reduced by 18% by using SS-modified coke nuts as fuel. Fe3O4 and Fe2O3 were proved as the dominant components responsible for the catalysis of SS. These results verify that SS has great potential in catalytic combustion of coke nuts and in-situ NO reduction during the iron ore sintering process.