Synergistic Adsorption and In Situ Catalytic Conversion of SO₂ by Transformed Bimetal-Phenolic Functionalized Biomass

SO₂ removal is critical to flue gas purification. However, based on performance and cost, materials under development are hardly adequate substitutes for active carbon-based materials. Here, we engineered biomass-derived nanostructured carbon nanofibers integrated with highly dispersed bimetallic Ti/CoO nanoparticles through the thermal transition of metal-phenolic functionalized industrial leather wastes for synergistic SO₂ adsorption and in situ catalytic conversion. The generation of surface-SO₃^2- and peroxide species (O₂^2-) by Ti/CoO achieved catalytic conversion of adsorbed SO₂ into value-added liquid H₂SO₄, which can be discharged from porous nanofibers. This approach can also avoid the accumulation of the adsorbed SO₂, thereby achieving high desulfurization activity and a long operating life over 6000 min, preceding current state-of-the-art active carbon-based desulfurization materials. Combined with the techno-economic and carbon footprint analysis from 36 areas in China, we demonstrated an economically viable and scalable solution for real-world SO₂ removal on the industrial scale.