Reduction of SO2 emissions by ammonia gas during unstaged combustion

The reduction of SO2 by the addition of ammonia gas has been studied in a 2 m high fluidized bed combustor having a 30 cm static bed height and a freeboard height of 170 cm. Ammonia gas was injected at 52 cm above the distributor where the temperature is ca. 700° C by an uncooled stainless steel tube injector. Experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of amminia gas injection on sulphur dioxide emissions at unstaged conditions of: (i) excess air level, (ii) NH3:SO2 molar ratio, (iii) fluidizing velocity and (iv) bed height.A maximum reduction of 75% in SO2 emissions was found at 40% excess air, at an NH3:SO2 molar ratio of 5.4. The onset of SO2 reduction occurred at an NH3:SO2 ratio of 1.5 However, the most effective ratio was found to be between 3 and 5. Fluidizing velocity and bed height were also found to have significant influence on SO2 reduction.It is difficult to determine how the SO2 reduction varied with operating conditions. When ammonia is added in the main combustor zone, the temperature is much higher than that required for the occurrence of sulphur dioxide-ammonia and sulphur trioxide-ammonia reactions. However, this paper points out the significance of ammonia addition in the reduction of sulphur dioxide.