(359e) Potential Utilization of Nitrogen Oxide from Exhausted Gas for Enhancement of Nitrogen Cycle

Under the stress of environmental hazards and resource scarcity, our society is forced to transform from resource-consuming to sustainable. To achieve the sustainability goal, energies and materials that used to be discarded should be transformed into valuable products and returned to society again. Therefore, this research focuses on the re-utilization mechanism for the Nitrogen component contained in industrial flue gas as valuable materials.

In general, the Nitrogen component in waste gas often exists as toxic Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) form. Because of its toxicity, NOx is neutralized before releasing into the atmosphere. Currently, industries usually apply Selective Catalytic Reaction (SCR) method on waste gas detoxification, which neutralizes NOx into harmless Nitrogen gas and water by reacting with ammonia and catalysts. However, using the SCR method requires purchasing external ammonia as the reductant, and even though the product, Nitrogen gas, is harmless, it is not valuable materials to return to society.

In contrast, this research examines the NOx resource transformation methods for the NOx-contained flue gas. According to the literature review, reacting the NOx component with alkaline solution was selected as one of the possible pathway because nitrate salts were produced, which often utilized as fertilizer and gunpowder’s raw material. In addition, the reaction was analysed for scale-up of this method.

Unlike the ammonia-consuming SCR method, this method produces valuable by-products through different approaches, enabling further resource utilization and construction of the Nitrogen cycle for a sustainable society. Furthermore, along with applying this approach to various cases, the resource utilization cycles may blossom in different areas.