Sulphur dioxide removal using South African limestone/siliceous materials

This study presents an investigation into the desulfurization effect of sorbent derived from South African calcined limestone conditioned with fly ash. The main aim was to examine the effect of chemical composition and structural properties of the sorbent with regard to SO2 removal in dry-type flue gas desulfurization (FGD) process. South African fly ash and CaO obtained from calcination of limestone in a laboratory kiln at a temperature of 900 °C were used to synthesize CaO/ash sorbent by atmospheric hydration process. The sorbent was prepared under different hydration conditions: CaO/fly ash weight ratio, hydration temperature (55–75 °C) and hydration period (4–10 h). Desulfurization experiments were done in the fixed bed reactor at 87 °C and relative humidity of 50%. The chemical composition of both the fly ash and calcined limestone had relatively high Fe2O3 and oxides of other transitional elements which provided catalytic ability during the sorbent sorption process. Generally the sorbents had higher SO2 absorption capacity in terms of mol of SO2 per mol of sorbent (0.1403–0.3336) compared to hydrated lime alone (maximum 0.1823). The sorbents were also found to consist of mesoporous structure with larger pore volume and BET specific surface area than both CaO and fly ash. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed the presence of complex compounds containing calcium silicate hydrate in the sorbents.