Technologies for the nitrogen oxides reduction from flue gas: A review

Abatement of Nitrogen Oxides via Selective Catalytic Reduction over Ce1-W1 Atom-Pair Sites

Environmentally benign CeO₂-WO₃/TiO₂ catalysts are promising alternatives to commercial toxic V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ for controlling NO_x emission via selective catalytic reduction (SCR), but the insufficient catalytic activity of CeO₂-WO₃/TiO₂ catalysts is one of the obstacles in their applications because of a lack of an in-depth understanding of the CeO₂-WO₃ interactions. Herein, we design a Ce₁-W₁/TiO₂ model catalyst by anchoring Ce₁-W₁ atom pairs on anatase TiO₂(001) to investigate the synergy between Ce and W in SCR. A series of characterizations combined with density functional theory calculations and in situ diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier-transform experiments reveal that there exists a strong electronic interaction within Ce₁-W₁ atom pairs, leading to a much better SCR performance of Ce₁-W₁/TiO₂ compared with that of Ce₁/TiO₂ and W₁/TiO₂. The Ce₁-W₁ synergy not only shifts down the lowest unoccupied states of Ce₁ near the Fermi level, thus enhancing the abilities in adsorbing and oxidizing NH₃ but also makes the frontier orbital electrons of W₁ delocalized, thus accelerating the activation of O₂. The deep insight of the Ce-W synergy may assist in the design and development of efficient catalysts with an SCR activity as high as or even higher than V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂.

Recent progress in single-atom alloys: Synthesis, properties, and applications in environmental catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysts have made outstanding advancements in pollutants elimination as well as energy and materials production over the past decades. Single-atom alloys (SAAs) are novel environmental catalysts prepared by dispersing single metal atoms on other metals. Integrating the advantages of single atom and alloys, SAAs can maximize atom utilization, reduce the use of noble metals and enhance catalytic performances. The synergistic, electronic and geometric effects of SAAs are effective to modulate the activation energy and adsorption strength, consequently breaking linear scaling relationship as well as offering an excellent catalytic activity and selectivity. Moreover, SAAs possess clear atomic structure, active sites and reaction mechanisms, providing an opportunity to tailor catalytic properties and develop effective environmental catalysts. In this review, we provide the recent progress on synthetic strategies, catalytic properties and catalyst design of SAAs. Furthermore, the applications of SAAs in environmental catalysis are introduced towards catalytic conversion and elimination of different air pollutants in many important reactions including (electrochemical) oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), dehydrogenation of VOCs, CO₂ conversion, NO_x reduction, CO oxidation, SO₃ decomposition, etc. Finally, challenges and opportunities of SAAs in a broad environmental field are proposed.

Electrochemical Reduction of Gaseous Nitrogen Oxides on Transition Metals at Ambient Conditions

Mitigating nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions is critical to tackle global warming and improve air quality. Conventional NO_x abatement technologies for emission control suffer from a low efficiency at near ambient temperatures. Herein, we show an electrochemical pathway to reduce gaseous NO_x that can be conducted at high reaction rates (400 mA cm^-2) under ambient conditions. Various transition metals are evaluated for electrochemical reduction of NO and N₂O to reveal the role of electrocatalyst in determining the product selectivity. Specifically, Cu is highly selective toward NH₃ formation with >80% Faradaic efficiency in NO electroreduction. Furthermore, the partial pressure study of NO electroreduction revealed that a high NO coverage facilitates the N-N coupling reaction. In acidic electrolytes, the formation of NH₃ is greatly favored, whereas the N₂ production is suppressed. Additional mechanistic studies were conducted by using flow electrochemical mass spectrometry to gain further insights into reaction pathways. This work provides a promising avenue toward abating gaseous NO_x emissions at ambient conditions by using renewable electricity.

Effects of Ammonia Solution and Pyrolysis Gas on NOx Emission from a 75 t/h Pulverized Coal Boiler

To explore methods of reducing NOx emission from pulverized coal boilers, the effects of injecting ammonia solution and pyrolysis gas into the furnace on NOx emission were experimentally investigated on a 75 t/h pulverized coal boiler. Results show that the deep air staging with 30% separated over fire air (SOFA) creates a high temperature and strong reducing atmosphere in the reducing zone, providing the prerequisites for NOx reduction by ammonia solution and pyrolysis gas. Compared with deep air staging itself, NOx emission can be reduced by 16.7% when ammonia solution is injected from the reducing zone with a normalized stoichiometric ratio of 2.0. However, NOx reduction efficiency is largely affected by its injection position. Similarly, NOx emission is decreased by 28.2% through injecting pyrolysis gas with its calorific value of 10% into the furnace, while a further increase of pyrolysis gas input will not increase NOx reduction efficiency. When ammonia solution and pyrolysis gas are simultaneously injected into the furnace under deep air staging conditions, the overall NOx reduction efficiency reaches 92.0% and NOx emission is decreased to 39.1 mg/m3. Considering the increasingly strict NOx emission standard, these findings can provide theoretical and practical guides to the future NOx reduction in pulverized coal boilers.

Theoretical Studies on the Mechanism of deNOx Process in Cu-Zn Bimetallic System-Comparison of FAU and MFI Zeolites

In the present study we propose a more promising catalyst for the deNOx process to eliminate harmful nitrogen oxides from the environment. The study was performed with a computer calculation using density functional theory (DFT) based on an ab initio method. Two zeolite catalysts, FAU and MFI, were selected with additional Cu-O-Zn bimetallic dimer adsorbed inside the pores of both zeolites. Based on the analysis of preliminary studies, the most probable way of co-adsorption of nitric oxide and ammonia was selected, which became the initial configuration for the reaction mechanism. Two types of mechanisms were proposed: with hydroxyl groups on a bridged position of the dimer or a hydroxyl group on one of the metal atoms of the dimer. Based on the results, it was determined that the FAU zeolite with a bimetallic dimer and an OH group on the zinc atom was the most efficient configuration with a relatively low energy barrier. The real advantage of the Cu-Zn system over FAU and MFI in hydrothermal conditions has been demonstrated in comparison to a conventional Cu-Cu catalyst.

Competition between metal-catalysed electroreduction of dinitrogen, protons, and nitrogen oxides: a DFT perspective

Metals are common electrocatalysts for N2-into-NH3 reduction. In protic media, H+ competes with N2 to be reduced into H2. NOx, common air pollutants, are predicted to be more selectively converted into NH3 than N2, and even more than H+ into H2.

Mechanistic studies on the conversion of NO gas on urea-iron and copper metal organic frameworks at low temperature conditions: in situ infrared spectroscopy and Monte Carlo investigations

Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from high-temperature combustion processes under fuel-lean conditions continue to be a challenge for the energy industry. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is possible using metal oxides and zeolites. There is still a need to identify catalytic materials that are efficient in reducing NOx to environmentally benign nitrogen gas at temperatures lower than 200 °C. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a class of highly porous materials with unique physical and chemical properties. This study is motivated by the lack of systematic investigations on SCR using MOFs under industrially relevant conditions. Here, we investigate the extent of NO conversion with two commercially available MOFs, Basolite F300 (Fe-BTC) and HKUST-1 (Cu-BTC), mixed with solid urea as a source for the reductant, ammonia gas. For comparison, experiments were also conducted using cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) as a non-porous counterpart to relate its reactivity to those obtained from MOFs. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was utilized to identify the gas and surface species in the temperature range of 115–180 °C. Computational analysis was performed using Monte Carlo simulations to quantify the adsorption energies of different surface species. The results show that the rate of ammonia production from the in situ solid urea decomposition was higher using CoFe2O4 than Fe-BTC and Cu-BTC and that there was very limited conversion of NO on the mixed solid urea-MOF systems due to site blocking. The main conclusions from this study are that MOFs have limited ability to convert NO under low-temperature conditions and that surface regeneration requires additional experimental steps.

Confinement of MnOx@Fe2O3 core-shell catalyst with titania nanotubes: Enhanced N2 selectivity and SO2 tolerance in NH3- SCR process

Surface interface regulation is an important research content in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. To improve the interface interaction between the active component and matrix, tremendous efforts have been dedicated to tailoring the morphology, size, and structure of composite catalysts. In this work, we report a confinement strategy to synthesize a series of core-shell catalysts loaded with metal oxides on titania nanotubes (TNTs), which were applied to the selective catalytic reduction of NO_x with ammonia. Interestingly, the core-shell catalyst with confinement of TNTs exhibited the remarkable activity at low temperature region, N₂ selectivity and sulfur tolerance. Benefiting from the superior interfacial confinement characteristic of TNTs and Fe₂O₃, strong component interactions, the surface acid sites and strong oxidizability of MnO_x were properly regulated, thus obtained the outstanding activity, N₂ selectivity and provide chemical protection to effectively prevent SO₂ poisoning. As far as the reaction mechanism, we found that the adsorption and reactivity of Lewis acid sites were the dominant factors affecting the activity in the NH₃-SCR process by in situ DRIFT spectra. In general, our work provides an innovative strategy for constructing an TNTs-enwrapped nanocomposite with nano-confinement and core-shell structure to improve the low temperature SCR process.

Effects of Operating and Structural Parameters on Removal of Nitric Oxide by Oxidation in a Ceramic Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor

A numerical study on the oxidation removal of nitric oxide in a ceramic hollow fiber membrane contactor was performed. To represent the transport and absorption process, the model was created by combining multiphase, species, reaction, and porous models. The numerical results were verified by comparing them with experimental data. The tube and lumen sides both have laminar parabolic velocity distributions. The nitric oxide concentration decreases gradually from the membrane wall to axis at the cross-section except on the inner and outer sides of the membrane tube. The equivalent diffusion length was proved useful for evaluating the entrance effect. At low concentrations, the reduction efficiency was proportional to the absorbent concentration, and at large concentrations, it neared a maximum value. The reduction efficiency was positively affected by elevated operating temperature and pressure. With a gas channel width of 13 mm, the reduction flow rate achieves its maximum. The efficiency of NO reduction per area decreases as the effective membrane length increases. Increasing the operating temperature and membrane length are recommended as design priorities due to high relative enhancements. It is not recommended to improve reduction efficiency by increasing membrane tube diameter and operating pressure in design. Changing the gas flow rate, absorbent concentration and gas channel width are moderate recommended as well.

Titania-Clay Mineral Composites for Environmental Catalysis and Photocatalysis

The use of titania-based composite materials in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and photocatalysis has a long and rich history. Hybrid structures combining titania nanoparticles with clay minerals have been extensively investigated for nearly four decades. The attractiveness of clay minerals as components of functional materials stems primarily from their compositional versatility and the possibility of using silicate lamellae as prefabricated building blocks ready to be fitted into the desired nanoconstruction. This review focuses on the evolution over the years of synthetic strategies employed for the manufacturing of titania–clay mineral composites with particular attention to the role of the adopted preparative approach in shaping the physical and chemical characteristics of the materials and enabling, ultimately, tuning of their catalytic and/or photocatalytic performance.

Effects of air pollution control devices on volatile organic compounds reduction in coal-fired power plants

Air pollution control devices (APCDs) have been fitted to many coal-fired power plants to decrease the impacts of pollutants generated during coal combustion. APCDs remove conventional pollutants but also decrease volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. In this study, flue gas samples were collected from different points in seven typical coal-fired power and two industrial boilers, and the VOC concentrations in the flue gas samples were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems and electrostatic precipitators (ESP) can synergistically remove VOCs, the mean removal rate of VOCs by ESP was 42% ± 9%. This was caused by the catalyst in SCR systems and the condensation process in the ESP. Wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) affected different VOCs in different ways, increasing the halogenated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations but decreasing the oxygenated VOCs concentrations by 12%. Wet electrostatic precipitators (WESP) increased VOC emissions. By calculating Ozone formation potential (OFP), aromatic hydrocarbons are important contributors to ozone production. The emission factor of the power plant was 0.69 g/GJ, and the Chinese annual emission was about 1.2 × 10⁴ t. VOCs emissions in different regions were affected by factors such as the economy and population. VOC emissions can be decreased by using the most appropriate unit load and improving the VOC removal efficiencies of the APCDs.

Effects of hydrogen peroxide, sodium carbonate, and ethanol additives on the urea-based SNCR process

The issue of secondary pollutants represents a classic problem in the urea-based selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) process. Therefore, this study took to investigate the evolutions of secondary pollutants when including additives during the urea-based SNCR process. Results indicated that additives, namely hydrogen peroxide, sodium carbonate, and ethanol, clear improved denitration efficiency between 750 °C - 925 °C due to the increase of OH groups. Compared to rates without any additives, the "temperature window" width of hydrogen peroxide, sodium carbonate, and ethanol increased by 30%, 30%, and 52%, respectively. The temperature at the maximum denitration efficiency was decreased by 25 °C with the addition of ethanol. The addition of hydrogen peroxide, sodium carbonate, and ethanol decreased the amount of ammonia leakage at 725 °C - 900 °C. Besides, the emissions of HNCO and N₂O were decreased by adding sodium carbonate during 725 °C - 900 °C. Therefore, the addition of sodium carbonate proved to be beneficial for reducing the secondary pollutant emissions in SNCR. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the urea-based SNCR process in combustion.

Recent advances in hybrid wet scrubbing techniques for NOx and SO2 removal: State of the art and future research

Recently, the discharge of flue gas has become a global issue due to the rapid development in industrial and anthropogenic activities. Various dry and wet treatment approaches including conventional and hybrid hybrid wet scrubbing have been employing to combat against these toxic exhaust emissions. However, certain issues i.e., large energy consumption, generation of secondary pollutants, low regeneration of scrubbing liquid and high efficieny are hindering their practical applications on industrial level. Despite this, the hybrid wet scrubbing technique (advanced oxidation, ionic-liquids and solid engineered interface hybrid materials based techniques) is gaining great attention because of its low installation costs, simultaneous removal of multi-air pollutants and low energy requirements. However, the lack of understanding about the basic principles and fundamental requirements are great hurdles for its commercial scale application, which is aim of this review article. This review article highlights the recent developments, minimization of GHG, sustainable improvements for the regeneration of used catalyst via green and electron rich donors. It explains, various hybrid wet scrubbing techniques can perform well under mild condition with possible improvements such as development of stable, heterogeneous catalysts, fast and in-situ regeneration for large scale applications. Finally, it discussed recovery of resources i.e., N₂O, NH₃ and N₂, the key challenges about several competitive side products and loss of catalytic activity over time to treat toxic gases via feasible solutions by hybrid wet scrubbing techniques.

Biological treatments of mercury and nitrogen oxides in flue gas: biochemical foundations, technological potentials, and recent advances

Nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and mercury (Hg) are commonly found coexistent pollutants in combustion flue gas. Ever-increasing emission of atmospheric Hg and NO_x has caused considerable environmental risks. Traditional flue gas demercuration and denitration techniques have many socioeconomic, technological and environmental drawbacks. Biotechnologies can be a promising and prospective alternative strategy. This article discusses theoretical foundation (biochemistry and genomic basis) and technical potentials (Hg⁰ bio-oxidation coupled to denitrification) of bioremoval of Hg and NO_x in flue gas and summarized recent experimental and technological advances. Finally, several specific technical perspectives have been put forward to better guide future researches.

High-Throughput NOx Removal by Two-Stage Plasma Honeycomb Monolith Catalyst

A two-stage plasma catalyst system for high-throughput NO_x removal was investigated. Herein, the plasma stage involved the large-volume plasma discharge of humidified gas and was carried out in a sandwich-type honeycomb monolith reactor consisting of a commercial honeycomb catalyst (50 mm high; 93 mm in diameter) located between two parallel perforated disks that formed the electrodes. The results demonstrated that, in the plasma stage, the reduction of NO_x did not occur at room temperature; instead, NO was only oxidized to NO₂ and n-heptane to oxygenated hydrocarbons. The oxidation of NO and n-heptane in the honeycomb plasma discharge state was largely affected by the humidity of the feed gas. Furthermore, the oxidation of NO to NO₂ occurs preferably to that of n-heptane with a tendency of the NO oxidation to decrease with increasing feed gas humidity. The reason is that the generation of O₃ decreases as the amount of water vapor in the feed gas increases. Compared to the catalyst alone, the two-stage plasma catalyst system increased NO_x removal by 29% at a temperature of 200 °C and an energy density of 25 J/L.

Capture of toxic gases in MOFs: SO2, H2S, NH3 and NO x

MOFs are promising candidates for the capture of toxic gases since their adsorption properties can be tuned as a function of the topology and chemical composition of the pores. Although the main drawback of MOFs is their vulnerability to these highly corrosive gases which can compromise their chemical stability, remarkable examples have demonstrated high chemical stability to SO2, H2S, NH3 and NO x . Understanding the role of different chemical functionalities, within the pores of MOFs, is the key for accomplishing superior captures of these toxic gases. Thus, the interactions of such functional groups (coordinatively unsaturated metal sites, μ-OH groups, defective sites and halogen groups) with these toxic molecules, not only determines the capture properties of MOFs, but also can provide a guideline for the desigh of new multi-functionalised MOF materials. Thus, this perspective aims to provide valuable information on the significant progress on this environmental-remediation field, which could inspire more investigators to provide more and novel research on such challenging task.

Sulfur-Resistant Ceria-Based Low-Temperature SCR Catalysts with the Non-bulk Electronic States of Ceria

Although ceria-based catalysts serve as an appealing alternative to traditional V₂O₅-based catalysts for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x with NH₃, the inevitable deactivation caused by SO₂ at low temperatures severely hampers the ceria-based catalysts to efficiently control NO_x emissions from SO₂-containing stack gases. Here, we rationally design a strong sulfur-resistant ceria-based catalyst by tuning the electronic structures of ceria highly dispersed on acidic MoO₃ surfaces. By using Ce L₃-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure spectra in conjunction with various surface and bulk structural characterizations, we report that the sulfur resistance of the catalysts is closely associated with the electronic states of ceria, particularly expressed by the Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ ratio related to the size of the ceria particles. As the Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ ratio increases up to or over 50%, corresponding to CeO₂/MoO₃(x %, x ≤ 2.1) with the particle size of approximately 4 nm or less, the non-bulk electronic states of ceria appear, where the catalysts start to show strong sulfur resistance. This work could provide a new strategy for designing sulfur-resistant ceria-based SCR catalysts for controlling NO_x emissions at low temperatures.

NOx removal with efficient recycling of NO2 from iron-ore sintering flue gas: A novel cyclic adsorption process

Conventional flue gas nitrogen oxides (NO_x) abatement technologies commonly convert NO_x into harmless compounds, while less effort has been made to recycle NO₂ as a profitable chemical in many industries. Towards this end, adsorption is a promising technology for which an advanced technique for NO₂ desorption and efficient sorbent regeneration provides the key step for success in practical applications. This work reports a novel cyclic adsorption process for NO_x removal with recycling of NO₂ from iron-ore sintering flue gas of a steel plant. This process using self-prepared and validated pelletized Na-ZSM-5 zeolites as low-cost sorbents involves NO_x catalytic adsorption and reversible desorption using multiple hot gas circulations (GC) within the enclosed fixed bed followed by scavenging and purge at mild conditions. In comparison to conventional cyclic processes, greater amount of recyclable NO₂ was obtained, rendering the NO_x recovery of >92% and the mean NO₂ concentration of >2% significantly enriched from original 20 ppm in feed gas. A robust adsorption-desorption performance with appreciable NO_x working capacity was achieved for up to 16 cycles. The key role of the segmentation of GC in boosting NO_x regenerability was addressed, providing an economical three-tower strategy for continuous NO₂ production for practical use.

Recent Developments in Graphene-Based Toxic Gas Sensors: A Theoretical Overview

Detecting and monitoring air-polluting gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur oxides (SOx) are critical, as these gases are toxic and harm the ecosystem and the human health. Therefore, it is necessary to design high-performance gas sensors for toxic gas detection. In this sense, graphene-based materials are promising for use as toxic gas sensors. In addition to experimental investigations, first-principle methods have enabled graphene-based sensor design to progress by leaps and bounds. This review presents a detailed analysis of graphene-based toxic gas sensors by using first-principle methods. The modifications made to graphene, such as decorated, defective, and doped to improve the detection of NOx, SOx, and CO toxic gases are revised and analyzed. In general, graphene decorated with transition metals, defective graphene, and doped graphene have a higher sensibility toward the toxic gases than pristine graphene. This review shows the relevance of using first-principle studies for the design of novel and efficient toxic gas sensors. The theoretical results obtained to date can greatly help experimental groups to design novel and efficient graphene-based toxic gas sensors.

Nitrogen oxide gas purification using carbon in water as reducing reagent with the aid of microbial fuel cell

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) can degrade the organic matter (OM) in wastewater at the anode and transfer electrons to the cathode. In this work, the harmful NO_X gas was used as electron acceptor in MFC and converted to harmless N₂. The OM in water was indirectly used as a zero-cost reducing agent for NOx removal. More than 80% of NO_X was removed continuously by MFC at room temperature. The NO_X was directly reduced to N₂ at MFC cathode and the cathode activity played a key role on enhancing the NO_X removal. The NO_X removal efficiency by the cathode of high potential was 1.37 times that by the cathode of low potential. When O₂ coexisting with NO as the electron acceptor, not only the NO_X removal but also the power output of MFC was improved greatly. The presence of NO_X did not decrease the power generation of MFC under the same O₂ concentration. The MFCs showed good stability for NO_X treatment and power output. Moreover, the possible pathways and advantages of NO_X removal by MFC were discussed in detail. These results indicated that the MFC system has the potential to treat wastewater, purify flue gas and recover energy simultaneously.

Improving the Performance of Gd Addition on Catalytic Activity and SO2 Resistance over MnOx/ZSM-5 Catalysts for Low-Temperature NH3-SCR

SO2 poisoning is a great challenge for the practical application of Mn-based catalysts in low-temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) reactions of NOx with NH3. A series of Gadolinium (Gd)-modified MnOx/ZSM-5 catalysts were synthesized via a citric acid–ethanol dispersion method and evaluated by low-temperature NH3-SCR. Among them, the GdMn/Z-0.3 catalyst with the molar ratio of Gd/Mn of 0.3 presented the highest catalytic activity, in which a 100% NO conversion could be obtained in the temperature range of 120–240 °C. Furthermore, GdMn/Z-0.3 exhibited good SO2 resistance compared with Mn/Z in the presence of 100 ppm SO2. The results of Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed reduction of H2 (H2-TPR) and temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 (NH3-TPD) illustrated that such catalytic performance was mainly caused by large surface area, abundant Mn4+ and surface chemisorbed oxygen species, strong reducibility and the suitable acidity of the catalyst. The in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectra (DRIFTS) results revealed that the addition of Gd greatly inhibited the reaction between the SO2 and MnOx active sites to form bulk manganese sulfate, thus contributing to high SO2 resistance. Moreover, in situ DRIFTS experiments also shed light on the mechanism of low-temperature SCR reactions over Mn/Z and GdMn/Z-0.3, which both followed the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) and Eley–Rideal (E–R) mechanism.

Carbon deposition enhanced selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide by a new catalytic process as well as increasing reducibility of catalyst

Carbon deposition usually hinders catalytic activity in one catalysis. In this work, carbon-deposition influence was investigated on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitric oxide (NO) by a theoretical-experimental method. Density-functional-theory calculations showed that carbon deposition increased adsorption energy of NO on oxide. For example, adsorption energy on Fe₂O₃ increased from 1.70 to 5.27 eV. Carbon deposition increased activity by following processes: NO adsorption, NO dissociation, oxygen transmittance, CO-group formation, and N₂/CO₂ evolutions. Among these stages, CO-group formation was a key step. Based on these computational predictions, an experimental SCR was carried out for the verification. As a result, a carbon-deposited catalyst had a better SCR activity (20% higher) than the corresponding oxide catalyst. Characterizations showed that carbon deposition increased the amounts of medium/strong acidic sites as well as the reducibility of the catalytic center. The main result of this article helps to understand the interface behavior of carbon on a catalyst during SCR. Above results are also in favor of designing a more effective SCR reactor to ensure a more stable running.

Recent advances in selective catalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO-SCO) in emissions with excess oxygen: a review on catalysts and mechanisms

Nitric oxides (NO_x, which mainly include more than 90% NO) are one of the major air pollutants leading to a series of environmental problems, such as acid rain, haze, photochemical smog, etc. The selective catalytic oxidation of NO to NO₂ (NO-SCO) is regarded as a key process for the development of selective catalytic reduction of NO_x by ammonia (via fast selective catalytic reduction reaction) and also the simultaneous removal of multipollutant (pre-oxidation and post-absorption). Until now, scholars have developed various types of NO-SCO catalysts, dividing the main groups into noble metals (Pt, Pd, Ru, etc.), metal oxides (Mn-, Co-, Cr-, Ce-based, etc.), perovskite-type oxides (LaMnO₃, LaCoO₃, LaCeCoO₃, etc.), carbon materials (activated carbon, carbon fiber, carbon nanotube, graphene, etc.), and zeolites (ion-exchanged ZSM-5, CHA, SAPO, MCM-41, etc.) in this review. This paper summarizes the recent progress of the above typical catalysts and mostly analyzes the catalytic performance for NO oxidation in terms of the H₂O and/or SO₂ resistances and also the influencing factors, and their reaction mechanisms are described in detail. Finally, this review points out the key problems and possible solutions of the current researches and presents the application prospects and future development directions of NO-SCO technology using the above typical catalysts.

Efficient NO reduction by carbon-deposited CaO in the carbonation step of calcium looping for the CO2 capture

Carbon-deposited CaO realizes efficient NO removal and CO2 capture in carbonator of calcium looping.

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma for Diesel Particulate Matter Treatment: A Review

The purification of diesel exhaust gas is of great importance to prevent the atmospheric emission of major pollutants such as diesel particulate matter and nitrogen oxides and meet the environmental regulations. The atmospheric-pressure plasma is attracting increasing interest and is a promising after-treatment technology for purifying diesel emission at low temperatures. However, when compared with the numerous publications on nitrogen oxides reduction by non-thermal plasma, using non-thermal plasma to particulate matter treatment have relatively limited. This work provides a comprehensive review of the plasma applications for diesel particulate matter treatment, including self-regenerating diesel particulate filter, diesel particulate matter removal, and simultaneous removal of diesel particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. The treatment of particulate matter from both simulated particulate matter sources and actual diesel engines also discussed in this comprehensive review. The challenge to this technology is limited energy consumption for plasma, which should be less than 5% (~30 J/L) of the overall fuel consumption. Until now, the atmospheric-pressure plasma has been no commercial implementation in diesel exhaust gas treatment, so more research is needed to be done in this field.

The impact of nitrogen oxides on electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction

The electroreduction of carbon dioxide offers a promising avenue to produce valuable fuels and chemicals using greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as the carbon feedstock. Because industrial carbon dioxide point sources often contain numerous contaminants, such as nitrogen oxides, understanding the potential impact of contaminants on carbon dioxide electrolysis is crucial for practical applications. Herein, we investigate the impact of various nitrogen oxides, including nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrous oxide, on carbon dioxide electroreduction on three model electrocatalysts (i.e., copper, silver, and tin). We demonstrate that the presence of nitrogen oxides (up to 0.83%) in the carbon dioxide feed leads to a considerable Faradaic efficiency loss in carbon dioxide electroreduction, which is caused by the preferential electroreduction of nitrogen oxides over carbon dioxide. The primary products of nitrogen oxides electroreduction include nitrous oxide, nitrogen, hydroxylamine, and ammonia. Despite the loss in Faradaic efficiency, the electrocatalysts exhibit similar carbon dioxide reduction performances once a pure carbon dioxide feed is restored, indicating a negligible long-term impact of nitrogen oxides on the catalytic properties of the model catalysts.

Mechanochemical activation of titanium slag for effective selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

Ti-bearing blast furnace slag was usually recycled by acid leaching. For the first time, a catalyst was synthesized from the slag by wet ball-milling. During this process, no waste was produced. When the activated slag was used in selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide (NO), 80.5 ± 1.2% of NO (990 ppm) was removed at 350 °C. The catalyst steadily removed 91.0 ± 1.3% of NO for 900 min at 400 °C. On the contrary, the slag without activation showed almost no catalytic activity at these temperatures. The enhanced activity was mainly attributed to the following characterizations. After wet ball-milling, specific surface area of the slag was increased from 2.595 to 26.497 m²/g; surface acid sites were amplified by 15 times; Fe/Ti ratio on surface was enhanced from 0.20 to 1.10. At the same time, surface Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ was regulated from 0.43 to 0.53. The above enhanced properties were attributed to the mechanochemical activation, which dissolved and re-deposited active species on particle surface as well as reinforced the effect between Fe and Ti species. The main result of this work put forward a green method for the direct utilization of industrial waste without generating by-products.

Promotional Effect of Manganese on Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO by CO in the Presence of Excess O2 over M@La–Fe/AC (M = Mn, Ce) Catalyst

The catalytic performance of a series of La-Fe/AC catalysts was studied for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by CO. With the increase in La content, the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio and amount of surface oxygen vacancies (SOV) in the catalysts increased; thus the catalytic activity improved. Incorporating the promoters to La3-Fe1/active carbon (AC) catalyst could affect the catalyst activity by changing the electronic structure. The increase in Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio after the promoter addition is possibly due to the extra synergistic interaction of M (Mn and Ce) and Fe through the redox equilibrium of M3+ + Fe3+ ↔ M4+ + Fe2+. This phenomenon could have improved the redox cycle, enhanced the SOV formation, facilitated NO decomposition, and accelerated the CO-SCR process. The presence of O2 enhanced the formation of the C(O) complex and improved the activation of the metal site. Mn@La3-Fe1/AC catalyst revealed an excellent NO conversion of 93.8% at 400 °C in the presence of 10% oxygen. The high catalytic performance of MnOx and double exchange behavior of Mn3+ and Mn4+ can increase the number of SOV and improve the catalytic redox properties.

A new insight into the promotional effect of nitrogen-doping in activated carbon for selective catalytic reduction of NOX with NH3

A series of N-doped carbons were prepared to investigate the effect of different N-containing groups on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH₃. Combined the SCR activity with the results of porosity analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, it's deduced that the pyridinic N (N-6) rather than the surface area or doped total N was mainly responsible for the promoted SCR activity. The electron paramagnetic resonance and O₂-temperature programmed desorption (O₂-TPD) experiments indicated that N-6 created numerous of oxygen vacancy. The NO+O₂-TPD and transient response of NH₃ further demonstrated that the increased oxygen vacancy enhanced the absorbability and reactivity of NOx, therefore the SCR reaction was elevated by accelerating the reaction in the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism. Furthermore, the NH₃-TPD suggested that N-6 was conductive to the NH₃ adsorption. In situ DRIFTs of NH₃ adsorption and reaction illustrated that the increased NH₃ mainly existed as NH₂ species, which were quickly consumed by NO+O₂, further elevated the reaction between gaseous NO and adsorbed NH₃ in the Eley-Rideal (E-R) mechanism. The N-6 groups doped in the activated carbons facilitated the L-H and E-R reactions and thus promoted the SCR activity.

Experimental Investigation of the Hydrate-Based Gas Separation of Synthetic Flue Gas with 5A Zeolite

Coal combustion flue gas contains CO2, a greenhouse gas and driver of climate change. Therefore, CO2 separation and removal is necessary. Fortunately, 5A zeolites are highly porous and can be used as a CO2 adsorbent. In addition, they act as nuclei for hydrate formation. In this work, a composite technology, based on the physical adsorption of CO2 by 5A zeolite and hydrate-based gas separation, was used to separate CO2/N2 gas mixtures. The influence of water content, temperature, pressure, and particle size on gas adsorption and CO2 separation was studied, revealing that the CO2 separation ability of zeolite particles sized 150–180 μm was better than that of those sized 380–830 μm at 271.2 K and 273.2 K. When the zeolite particles were 150–180 μm (type-B zeolite) with a water content of 35.3%, the gas consumption per mole of water (ngas/nH2O ) reached the maximum, 0.048, and the CO2 separation ratio reached 14.30%. The CO2 molar concentration in the remaining gas phase (xCO2gas) was lowest at 271.2 K in the type-B zeolite system with a water content of 47.62%. Raman analysis revealed that CO2 preferentially occupied the small hydrate cages and there was a competitive relationship between N2 and CO2.

A Review about the Recent Advances in Selected NonThermal Plasma Assisted Solid-Gas Phase Chemical Processes

Plasma science has attracted the interest of researchers in various disciplines since the 1990s. This continuously evolving field has spawned investigations into several applications, including industrial sterilization, pollution control, polymer science, food safety and biomedicine. nonthermal plasma (NTP) can promote the occurrence of chemical reactions in a lower operating temperature range, condition in which, in a conventional process, a catalyst is generally not active. The aim, when using NTP, is to selectively transfer electrical energy to the electrons, generating free radicals through collisions and promoting the desired chemical changes without spending energy in heating the system. Therefore, NTP can be used in various fields, such as NOx removal from exhaust gases, soot removal from diesel engine exhaust, volatile organic compound (VOC) decomposition, industrial applications, such as ammonia production or methanation reaction (Sabatier reaction). The combination of NTP technology with catalysts is a promising option to improve selectivity and efficiency in some chemical processes. In this review, recent advances in selected nonthermal plasma assisted solid-gas processes are introduced, and the attention was mainly focused on the use of the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors.

Experimental Investigation of Primary De-NOx Methods Application Effects on NOx and CO Emissions from a Small-Scale Furnace

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) from combustion contribute significantly to atmospheric pollution. An experimental setup was employed to investigate the application of three primary denitrification methods, i.e., reburning (staged combustion), overfiring air (OFA), and flue-gas recirculation (FGR), individually and in combination, combusting natural gas (NG) and propane–butane gas (PBG). Fuel heat inputs of 16 and 18 kW and air excess coefficients of 1.1 and 1.2, respectively, were tested. The highest individual denitrification efficiency of up to 74% was obtained for FGR, followed by reburning and OFA. A denitrification efficiency between 8.9% (reburning + OFA) and 72% (reburning + OFA + FGR) with NG combustion was observed. Using a 20% FGR rate yielded denitrification efficiency of 74% for NG and 65% for PBG and also led to a significant decrease in carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, so this can be recommended as the most efficient denitrification and de-CO method in small-scale furnaces. Reburning alone led to a sharp, more than 12-fold increase in CO emissions compared to the amount without any other method application. The presented results and the difference between our experimental data and the literature data acquired in some other studies indicate the need for further research.

A new V2O5–MoO3–TiO2–SO42−nanostructured aerogel catalyst for diesel DeNOxtechnology

A new V₂O₅–MoO₃–TiO₂–SO₄²⁻nanostructured aerogel catalyst exhibits superior SCR activity compared to the V₂O₅–WO₃/TiO₂commercial catalyst (EUROCAT) at high temperatures (375–500 °C).