An infrared study of the behavior of SO2 and NOx over carbon and carbon-supported catalysts

The heterogeneous reactivity of NOx and SO2 with carbon has been investigated with FT-IR spectroscopy. The interaction between NO and SO2 on carbon surface have been studied in the presence and in the absence of oxygen. Thermal stabilities of surface structures, formed as a result of NOx and SO2 chemisorption have been determined by means of FT-IR spectroscopy. During the reaction of NO/O2 mixture with carbon the surface species, including C–NO2, C–ONO, C–NCO and anhydride structures are formed. It has been found that SO2 retards the oxidation reaction of carbon by oxygen. The oxidation of SO2 on carbon was found to be greatly enhanced by the presence of NO + O2 mixture. The adsorption capacity of cellulose based carbon, catalytic NOx decomposition and TPD was studied using a fixed bed flow reactor.