https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2011.006
Published: Kem. Ind. 60 (11) (2011) 543–549
Paper reference number: KUI-06/2011
Paper type: Professional paper
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Low Temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides in Production of Nitric Acid by the Use of Liquid Ammonia

N. Zečević, M. Ljubičić, D. Vdović, K. Mikoč, I. Herjavec and Ž. Kabljanac

Abstract

This paper presents the application of low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of nitrous oxides in the tail gas of the dual-pressure process of nitric acid production. The process of selective catalytic reduction is carried out using the TiO2/WO3 heterogeneous catalyst applied on a ceramic honeycomb structure with a high geometric surface area per volume. The process design parameters for nitric acid production by the dual-pressure procedure in a capacity range from 75 to 100 % in comparison with designed capacity for one production line is shown in the Table 1. Shown is the effectiveness of selective catalytic reduction in the temperature range of the tail gas from 180 to 230 °C with direct application of liquid ammonia, without prior evaporation to gaseous state. The results of inlet and outlet concentrations of nitrous oxides in the tail gas of the nitric acid production process are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 3 shows the temperature dependence of the selective catalytic reduction of nitrous oxides expressed as NO2 in the tail gas of nitric acid production with the application of a constant mass flow of liquid ammonia of 13,0 kg h–1 and average inlet mass concentration of the nitrous oxides expressed as NO2 of 800,0 mgm–3 during 100 % production capacity. The specially designed liquid-ammonia direct-dosing system along with the effective homogenization of the tail gas resulted in emission levels of nitrous oxides expressed as NO2 in tail gas ranging from 100,0 to 185,0 mg m–3. The applied low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of the nitrous oxides in the tail gases by direct use of liquid ammonia is shown in Figure 4. It is shown that low-temperature selective catalytic reduction with direct application of liquid ammonia opens a new opportunity in the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions during nitric acid production without the risk of dangerous ammonium nitrate occurring in the process of subsequent energy utilization of tail gas through a gas turbine. With the direct application of liquid ammonia it is possible to create the simpler system of selective catalytic reduction of tail-gas nitrous oxides, thus avoiding the additional processes of vaporization and preheating, and thereby achieving an economic and energetic-efficient procedure for their reduction down to legally prescribed limits.

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Keywords

selective catalytic reduction, nitrous oxide, liquid ammonia, nitric acid