Issue
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering,
Vol.40, No.4, 714-721, 2023
Thermal regeneration characteristics of titanium isopropoxide-modified TiO2 for the removal of environmentally hazardous NOx in iron ore sintering process
The deactivation and thermal regeneration characteristics of a V2O5-WO3/TiO2 catalyst modified with titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) were investigated after it was applied for 2,400 h at 240 oC in a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) pilot plant to purify the exhaust gas from an iron ore sintering process in steelworks. Evolved gas analysis/mass spectrometry (EGA/MS) analysis was adopted to determine the temperature for thermal regeneration, and thermal treatment was performed at the determined temperature for 3 h in a N2 atmosphere. The catalysts (Fresh catalyst: NCat, used catalyst: U-Cat, and thermally regenerated catalyst: R-Cat-X (X is thermal regeneration temperature)) were analyzed by elemental analyzer, X-ray fluorescence (XRF, component analysis), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET, specific surface area and porosity), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS, surface micro-structure and components), X-ray diffraction (XRD, crystalline structure), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR, surface functional group). Thermal regeneration of catalyst was evaluated by NOx removal efficiency, depending on the regeneration temperature. It was found that the deactivation of the catalyst occurred due to the reduction of specific surface area and porosity by ammonium (bi)sulfate (AS or ABS). The NOx removal efficiency of the R-Cat-400 and the R-Cat-500 reached to 98.5% and 99.1%, respectively. Due to the breakdown of AS and ABS during the thermal regeneration, those results were quite similar to those of the N-Cat. Although the NOx removal efficiency of the RCat- 500 was higher than that of the R-Cat-400, the temperature for thermal regeneration needs to be determined under consideration of the emission of high concentration of SO2 emitted during thermal regeneration.