Low-medium temperature application of selective catalytic reduction denitration in cement flue gas through a pilot plant

Abstract

Low-medium temperature application of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) denitration in cement flue gas was established and investigated in this study. The 2000 h continuous operation shows the concentration of NOx at the outlet can be maintained at 24 mg/Nm3 on average, while due to the increase of SO2 in flue gas, the NOx concentration increased to 57.5 mg/Nm3 after long time operation. The sulfur deposition is the main reason for catalyst deactivation, and SO2 is still a big obstacle for low-medium temperature SCR application in cement flue gas. The denitration efficiency was tested as fluctuated from 73.5% to 86.2%, and ammonia concentration after SCR was as still as high as 22.5–60.0 mg/Nm3 due to the excessive ammonia injection from selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), shows serious ammonia escape problem for SNCR, and the potential application of hybrid SNCR-SCR technology. In order to maintain the denitration efficiency above 85.0%, the gaseous hourly space velocity (GHSV) should not be exceeded 2800 h−1, the electrostatic precipitators (ESP) setting at 60 kV was relatively appropriate, the temperature of the flue gas should be kept at above 200 °C. The concentrations and toxic equivalent quantities (TEQs) of the PCDD/Fs congeners in the flue gas raised greatly after SCR reactor, indicating the PCDD/Fs concentration should be concerned during the application of low-medium temperature SCR, especially for the waste co-disposal processes.