EVALUATION OF ENERGY-UTILIZATION EFFICIENCIES FOR SO2 AND NO REMOVAL BY PULSED CORONA DISCHARGE PROCESS

Pulsed corona discharge process was applied to the removal of sulfur d ioxide and nitrogen oxides from simulated flue gas. The energy transfe r efficiency of the pulse generation circuit and the energy utilizatio n efficiencies for SO2 and NO removal are evaluated and discussed. Whe n the pulse-forming capacitance was five times larger than the geometr ic capacitance of the reactor, the energy utilization efficiency was m aximized, and the energy requirements for NO and SO2 removal could be lowered. With regard to radical utilization efficiency, producing smal l amounts of radicals frequently was found to be more advantageous tha n producing large amounts of radicals less frequently. Removal efficie ncy of SO2 increased with the applied peak voltage, but the energy uti lization efficiency was nearly independent of the peak voltage when th e peak field intensity was high enough to induce corona discharge (abo ve 10 k V cm(-1) in this system).