ELIMINATION OF NITROGEN-DIOXIDE FROM ROOM AIR USING CELLULOSE TREATEDWITH SULFURIC-ACID

Cellulose dipped in 10% H2SO4 and then incubated for several hours at 60-degrees-C could eliminate NO2 from room air at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The elimination reaction was studied using a co ntinuous-flow tubular reactor packed with cellulose treated with sulfu ric acid. The relative decrease of NO2 was 90% at the beginning and wa s maintained at over 50% for running time of over 600 hours with 1.3 k g.min/m3 of W/F, where W is the mass of the treated cellulose in the r eactor and F is the flow rate of the air containing NO(x) to the react or. About 30 to 70% (90% at the beginning) of the eliminated NO2 was r educed to NO. The rate of NO2 elimination was a function of the first order of the NO2 concentration. The rate of reaction reducing NO2 to N O seemed to be a higher-order function of the NO2 concentration.