New stack gas process removes NOx, SO2

Abstract

A new stack gas scrubbing process may solve the problem of simultaneously removing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from industrial exhausts, especially those from fossil-fueled power plants. The process is only in the initial development stages, but if it proves out, it would also yield salable products, thereby eliminating waste disposal problems. Until now, flue gas cleanup in the U.S. has aimed primarily at removing sulfur dioxide, generally through use of wet limestone processes. But with both sulfur and nitrogen oxides playing a role in acid precipitation, more stringent regulations of both are likely. Shin-ger Chang and David K. Liu, research scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), believe they have found an effective way to remove both the SO 2 and NO x that are found not only in the exhausts from power plants but from other operations such as smelters and furnaces. The process uses aqueous emulsions of yellow phosphorus (P4) to which limestone has been ...