SO2 absorption in aqueous sodium perborate

Abstract

Reduction of toxic gases emitted from combustion of fossil fuels is a severe environmental complication which causes acid rain and urban smog. Removal of these contaminants to satisfy with the environmental emission standards is necessary and various wet and dry processes have been put forward. The commercial wet processes of removing and separating SO2 from flue gases mainly include ammonia, limestone and seawater based methods. The present study is focused on absorption of SO2 into aqueous sodium perborate (NaBO3) from simulated gas stream. Sodium perborate releases oxygen rapidly at temperatures over 333 K, to make it active at lower temperatures. The experiments were conducted at fixed initial SO2 concentration in the gas stream using bubble column under atmosphere pressure. Experimental results showed that almost 70 - 99% removal efficiency of SO2 could be achieved by this approach during concentration variation of sodium perborate (1.5386 - 4.6158 g/l), at partial pressure of SO2 14.71 kPa and temperature 294 K. © Research India Publications.