Catalytic Reduction of Hexaminecobalt(III) by Pitch‐based Spherical Activated Carbon (PBSAC)

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AbstractThe wet ammonia (NH3) desulfurization process can be retrofitted to remove nitric oxide (NO) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) simultaneously by adding soluble cobalt(II) salt into the aqueous ammonia solution. Activated carbon is used as a catalyst to regenerate hexaminecobalt(II), Co(NH3), so that NO removal efficiency can be maintained at a high level for a long time. In this study, the catalytic performance of pitch‐based spherical activated carbon (PBSAC) in the simultaneous removal of NO and SO2 with this wet ammonia scrubbing process has been studied systematically. Experiments have been performed in a batch stirred cell to test the catalytic characteristics of PBSAC in the catalytic reduction of hexaminecobalt(III), Co(NH3). The experimental results show that PBSAC is a much better catalyst in the catalytic reduction of Co(NH3) than palm shell activated carbon (PSAC). The Co(NH3) reduction reaction rate increases with PBSAC when the PBSAC dose is below 7.5 g/L. The Co(NH3) reduction rate increases with its initial concentration. Best Co(NH3) conversion is gained at a pH range of 2.0–6.0. A high temperature is favorable to such reaction. The intrinsic activation energy of 51.00 kJ/mol for the Co(NH3) reduction catalyzed by PBSAC has been obtained. The experiments manifest that the simultaneous elimination of NO and SO2 by the hexaminecobalt solution coupled with catalytic regeneration of hexaminecobalt(II) can maintain a NO removal efficiency of 90% for a long time.