大气污染控制Lecture-12-0-Control-of-Nitrogen-Oxides.ppt

Control of Nitrogen Oxides1 1. An Overview of the Nitrogen Oxides ProblemMost of the world’s nitrogen is in the atmosphere as an inert gas.In crustal rocks it is the 34th most abundant element with an abundance of only ≈ 20 ppm.2 Although nitrogen forms eight different oxides, our principal air pollution interest is in the two most common oxides, nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).In addition, we are beginning to be concerned with nitrous oxide (N2O). It may be a significant contributor to global warming and to the possible destruction of the ozone layer.3 1.1 Comparison with Sulfur OxidesFig. 12.1 (next slide) shows part of how nitrogen moves in the environment, as a result of human activities.4 5 Nitrogen oxides are often lumped with sulfur oxides as air pollution control problems because of the similarities between the two:(1) Nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides react with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to form nitric sulfuric acids, respectively. These two acids are the principal contributors to acid rain.6 (2) Both undergo atmospheric transformations leading to or contributing to the formation of PM10 and PM2.5 in urban areas.(3) Both are released into the atmosphere in large quantities.(4) Both are released to the atmosphere by large combustion sources, particularly coal combustion sources. Table 12.1 (next slide) shows the emission sources of NOX in the U.S. in 1997.7 8 We see that vehicles contribute almost half of the total.Natural gas appears in this table, but not in the SO2 table.The largest contributors to the “All other sources” are nontransportation internal combustion engines and residential combustion.9 There are also major differences between nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides:(1) Motor vehicles are the major emitter of nitrogen oxides, but a very minor source of sulfur oxides.(2) Sulfur oxides are formed from the sulfur contaminants in fuels or the unwanted sulfur in sulfide ores. Although some of nitrogen oxides