Possibility of Reducing Formations of NOx and SO2 Simultaneously during Coal Combustion

Comparing with other NOx and SO2 control technologies, in-bed reducing NOx and SO2 simultaneously during coal combustion may lower the investment and operation cost. However, there are several possible contradictions between the reduction of NOx and the capture of SO2 during combustion: 1) CO rich atmosphere is favorable for the reduction of NOx, whereas O2 rich favorable for the capture of SO2; 2) higher preheating temperature of coal is favorable for reducing NOx, but unfavorable for reducing SO2; 3) sulphation of some minerals may deactivate their catalytic effect on the reduction of NOx. The attempts to eliminate such contradictions by coating coal granules with thin layer of monometallic oxides and mixed oxides were proposed. Ni2O3 and Fe2O3 showed high activity on NOx reduction and CaO and Cr2O3 showed good effect on sulfur capture. The mixed metallic oxides, e.g., Fe2O3NiO, etc., showed effective for both NOx reduction and SO2 retention. It is possible to in-bed reduce NOx and SO2 simultaneously if the adhering materials are properly chosen to be difunctional materials of both active catalysts for NOx reduction reactions and better sorbents for SO2 retention.