CATALYSTS FOR THE OXIDATION OF NO TO NO2

Nitrogen oxides (NO and NOx, collectively referred to as NOx) are among the mostpervasive and difficult emissions to control. NOx emissions can be reducedsomewhat by combustion modification techniques, but these reduce operatingefficiency and will not reduce levels to meet requirements of currentlegislation. Post combustion control is also difficult. Currently, there areno commercial catalytic processes capable of decomposing NO in net oxidizingenvironments without the addition of a reducing agent. The reducing agentcurrently used in commercial selective catalytic reduction systems is ammonia,which is toxic and difficult to handle. Recent efforts to implement hydrocarbonsas reducing agents have not produced catalysts that are sufficiently active.TDA Research has identified a fundamentally different approach to reducing NOxemissions. Their approach is to catalytically oxidize NO to NO2 so that it canbe removed with an alkaline scrubber. The key to this method is the developmentof catalysts that are active for NO oxidation at sufficiently low temperaturesthat equilibrium favors NO2 formation. In this SBIR Phase I project, they willsynthesize a new class of low temperature oxidation catalysts and test them forNO oxidation activity under representative conditions.