Evaluation of energy utilization efficiencies for SO2 and NO removal by pulsed corona discharge process

Pulsed corona discharge process was applied to the removal of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from simulated flue gas. The energy transfer efficiency of the pulse generation circuit and the energy utilization efficiencies for SO2 and NO removal are evaluated and discussed. When the pulse-forming capacitance was five times larger than the geometric capacitance of the reactor, the energy utilization efficiency was maximized, and the energy requirements for NO and SO2 removal could be lowered. With regard to radical utilization efficiency, producing small amounts of radicals frequently was found to be more advantageous than producing large amounts of radicals less frequently. Removal efficiency of SO2 increased with the applied peak voltage, but the energy utilization efficiency was nearly independent of the peak voltage when the peak field intensity was high enough to induce corona discharge (above 10 k V cm(-1) in this system).