Modeling and Simulation of Flue Gas Desulfurization Using Slurry of Fine Activated Carbon Particles

Abstract

The main objective of the present work is to investigate thefeasibility of using a slurry of fine activated carbon particles,dp<1mm, in a fixed bed reactor for the removal of sulfur dioxidefrom simulated flue gas (air, SO2) stream. A mathematical modelgoverning the desulfurization process was proposed. The partialdifferential equations which describe the adsorption of SO2 from amoving gas stream to the sorbent bed were solved using a finitedifference method. The kinetic parameters of the mathematicalmodel were obtained from a series of experimental desulfurizationruns carried out at isothermal conditions and different operatingconditions; bed temperature (333K-373K), initial SO2 concentration(500ppm-2000ppm) and static bed height (10cm-24cm). The resultsshowed that the use of fine activated carbon particles improved theremoval efficiency to about 97%. The verification of the simulationand experimental results showed that the proposed model gave agood description of the desulfurization process with 95% confidencelevel

Keywords

• desulfurization
• slurry reactor
• activated carbon
• modeling
• simulation
• finite difference