Sulfur Dioxide Removal from Flue Gas by Supported CuO Nanoparticle Adsorbents

The development of adsorbents for gas desulfurization is highly essential to control sulfur dioxide emissions. In this article, CuO-modified SBA-15 and MOR-SBA-15 composite adsorbents were prepared by impregnation and post-grafting methods. As-prepared adsorbents were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and N 2 adsorption–desorption methods. Furthermore, the adsorption desulfurization efficiency was investigated. The results proved that the impregnation method exhibited a remarkable dominance compared to the grafting method. The 8.7% CuO/MOR-SBA-15-imp adsorbent showed superior performance compared with other adsorbents in removing SO 2 from the flue gas. Moreover, the 8.7%CuO/MOR-SBA-15-imp adsorbent illustrated an excellent regeneration for five cycles. The optimal condition for the flue gas desulfurization with the flow rate of 13 NL/h was 400 °C and a 200 mg adsorbent. Kinetic model studies showed that the model was pseudo-first order, and the amounts of activation energy for the 8.7% CuO/SBA-15-imp and 8.7% CuO/MOR-SBA-15-imp samples were 20.4 and 18.5 kJ/mol, respectively.