Physical mixing of K2CO3/Al2O3 and poly(divinylbenzene) to promote COS removal from blast furnace gas with high humidity at low temperature

Abstract

Blast furnace gas (BFG) is a high emission and widely used secondary energy source. However, the presence of sulfide in BFG leads to environment pollution. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is the main (70 %) sulfide in BFG. Catalytic hydrolysis is an important method for COS removal, but the excessive water contained in BFG can significantly inhibit the performance of hydrolysis catalyst. In present work, K2CO3 was loaded on Al2O3 support using wet impregnation method to improve its hydrolysis efficiency. Moreover, a physical mixing method was employed to combine K2CO3/Al2O3 with hydrophobic poly(divinylbenzene) (PDVB) to improve the water resistance of K2CO3/Al2O3. It was found that a simple physical mixture of PDVB with K2CO3/Al2O3 could modulate the local environment of K2CO3/Al2O3, shifting the water-sorption equilibrium on the surface of the catalyst and releasing partial water-covered catalyst surface for hydrolysis. Under the reaction temperature of 90 °C and water vapor content of 34.4 g/m3, the hydrolysis efficiency of COS increased by ∼22.5 % via mixing K2CO3/Al2O3 with PDVB. This approach demonstrates the potential to enhance the hydrolysis efficiency of catalyst for COS removal from BFG with high humidity at low temperature, which is crucial for the practical application of desulfurization of BFG.