History of flue gas desulfurization systems since 1850: research, development and demonstration

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977 · J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6818756

The history of flue gas desulfurization since 1850 is reviewed. Major studies related to water scrubbing, metal ion solutions, catalytic oxidation dry adsorption, wet line scrubbing, double alkali process, ammonia scrubbing, and processes based on SO/sub 2/ reactions. These areas comprised the bulk of FGD activity from 1850--1950 and many of the processes are still being actively researched for the possibilities of large scale applications. Catalytic and dry absorption are on the verge of commercial implementation. Water as a SO/sub 2/ absorbent has been studied for more than a century. In the 1930's a number of FGD applications utilized water absorption. Early SO/sub 2/ control systems in power plants used river water. Today the use of metal ions is not considered promising. A more viable method is based on the use of metals in dry form to catalyze generation of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ by oxidation of SO/sub 2/. In dry adsorption, SO/sub 2/ from flue gases is adsorbed on the surface of a finely ground or granular solid. In the wet lime process, SO/sub 2/ is absorbed in a lime slurry and then reacts with caustic lime to form calcium sulfate. In the wet limestone process, SO/sub 2/ is scrubbed from flue gases using a limestone slurry. In the double alkali process SO/sub 2/ is removed by scrubbing with alkali (NaOH) and sulfur compounds are then precipitated in a lime slurry. Solutions containing ammonium ions have been found effective in scrubbing SO/sub 2/ from flue gases. The use of reducing agents such as carbon or hydrocarbons has been applied extensively in the metallurgical industry for treating smelter gases. All of these aforementioned processes are discussed in detail. Another section reviews the history of the development of general principles and concepts relating to FGD operation. The two areas include absorption of gas into liquid and scrubber design.

• OSTI ID: 6818756
• Journal Information: J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States) Vol. 27:10; ISSN JPCAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADSORBENTS
ADSORPTION
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
AMMONIA
CARBON
CARBONATE ROCKS
CATALYSIS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DESULFURIZATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FLUE GAS
GASEOUS WASTES
HYDRIDES
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LIME-LIMESTONE WET SCRUBBING PROCESSES
LIMESTONE
MANAGEMENT
METALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
PRECIPITATION
PROCESSING
REDUCTION
RESERVOIR ROCK
REVIEWS
ROCKS
SCRUBBERS
SCRUBBING
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SMELTING
SORPTION
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
WATER