Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge and Rotating Packed Bed Reactor for NOx Removal

Abstract Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are the main cause of photochemical smog and acid rain, which seriously endangers the ecological environment and human health. This phenomenon is particularly serious in developing countries like China. In this work, it is the first time to combine a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and a rotating packed bed (RPB) for NOx removal from the simulated flue gas. A DBD is employed to oxide part of NO to the soluble NO2, which is conducive to the following absorption process using the RPB with (NH2)2CO used as the absorbent and NaClO2 as the effective additive. NOx oxidation degree can reach more than 50% under the NOx concentration of 1000 ppm. Absorption results show that the NOx removal efficiency (η) dramatically increases with the increase of the NOx oxidation degree. Additionally, it increases with the enhancement of NaClO2 concentration and rotational speed of the RPB. As a result, NOx removal efficiency can reach more than 85% at the optimal conditions. The obtained results forecast a bright prospect in the NOx removal from flue gas by combining DBD with RPB.