Performance study on removal of NO in coal-fired flue gas via photothermal syner-gistic catalysis of H2O2 over copper-modified TiO2/carbon fiber film
Flue gas emitted by coal-fired power plants contains a large amount of nitrogen oxides(NOx).Solar energy driven photocatalysis technology provides a novel approach of near-zero emission for flue gas denitrification,however the efficiency of single photocatalytic denitrification is limited.To achieve efficient removal of high concentration NO from coal flue gas,the development of a collaborative oxidation denitrification technology based on photocatalysis is urgently required.Defective TiO2(D-TiO2)nanosheets with rich oxygen vacancies were first prepared by the hydrothermal method combined with H2 reduction treatment,and then CuOx was loaded onto D-TiO2 surface via the liquid phase impregnation approach to synthesize CuOx/D-TiO2 nanocomposites.Microscopic composition and energy-band structure of composite catalysts were determined by the transmission electron microscopy(TEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),room temperature electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR)and UV-visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy.The results showed that the supported copper species was mixed valence CuOx,and the modification of CuOx did not affect the micro-morpho-logy of D-TiO2,but enabled its conduction-band potential negative shift,consequently enhancing the reduction ability of photogenerated electrons.CuOx/D-TiO2 composites were served as the catalysts to activate H2O2,and the effect of CuOx loading amount on NO removal rate was studied under simulated solar light irradiation.By using the optimal 5%CuOx/D-TiO2 catalyst,the influences of simulated flue gas velocity and initial NO concentration on denitrification activity were in-vestigated.DFT calculation results based on the density functional theory indicated that oxygen vacancies were conduct-ive to NO adsorption and activation.Photoelectrochemical characterization and EPR test results displayed that incorporat-ing CuOx not only promoted the charge separation efficiency of D-TiO2,and also played a crucial cocatalyst role as the active sites of H2O2 decomposition to produce·OH.Radical quenching tests indicated that the surface·OH was primary active radicals for NO photo-oxidative removal.The synergistic effect of cocatalyst CuOx and oxygen vacancies elevated the removal rate of NO from 15.1%of TiO2 to 63.8%of 5%CuOx/D-TiO2.Moreover,5%CuOx/D-TiO2 was im-mobilized on the surface of modified carbon fiber(MCF)to construct monolithic catalyst CuOx/D-TiO2/MCF.The photo-thermal effect of MCF supporter can convert the absorbed near-infrared light into heat,producing local temperature rise on the surface of CuOx/D-TiO2.It dramatically accelerated photoelectrons interface transport and H2O2 decomposition reac-tion kinetics,further improving NO removal rate up to 95.2%.Additionally,the main product of NO photo-oxidative re-moval was NO3-,which can be used to produce nitrogen fertilizer.The detected byproduct NO2 was only 4.7 mg/m3.The concentration of NO2 and residual NO were much lower than the ultra-low emission standard of coal-fired boilers with NOx concentration of no more than 50 mg/m3.Durability test results showed that this monolithic catalyst CuOx/D-TiO2/MCF can purify high concentration of NO in flue gas under continuous operation conditions.The foregoing results demonstrate that the photothermal synergistic catalytic system based on CuOx/D-TiO2/MCF has a favorable application prospect in the field of industrial flue gas denitrification and nitrogen resource utilization.
NO oxidative removalphotothermal synergistic catalysisoxygen vacancyCuOxmonolithic catalyst