REGENERABLE NOX STRIPPING FOR GAS TURBINES

Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (EER) proposes to develop a highefficiency NOx control process that recycles NOx in gas turbine exhaust to theflame zone to be destroyed. This process uses a regenerable adsorbent in asimple thermal cycle with no additives or waste materials. Experimental studiesshow that NOx can be reversibly adsorbed on certain inorganic compounds. NOx isdesorbed when the temperature of these compounds is increased. In laboratorytests, one material reduced several hundred ppm of NOx down to less than 2 ppm.It is anticipated that full-scale commercial application of this technology couldprovide 95% NOx reduction.Past studies performed by EER have verified the ability of various sorbents toeffectively and reversibly adsorb NOx. The NOx adsorption capacity of severalsorbents has been studied, and a kinetic model predicting sorbent behavior undervarious temperature/partial pressure conditions has been developed. Phase I ofthe proposed project will address additional technical questions needed todetermine feasibility for gas turbine applications. Most importantly, thisincludes evaluating the impact of thermal cycling and high oxygen concentrationson sorbent performance. The adsorption/desorption process requires alternatingstreams of various temperature gases. Phase I will focus on the impact of theresulting temperature fluctuation and gradients on the sorbent's short term andlong tern performance. The experiments will be carried out in a packed bedreactor with on-line instrumental gas analysis and temperature measurements. Acalibrated flow panel and valve system will be utilized to provide a series ofinput streams, closely simulating the proposed full-scale application.