Abstract - Linjewile This is an investigation of the influence of moisture and carbon monoxide on the plasma-induced destruction of nitrous oxide in a flue-gas stream. It includes design and construction of a laboratory-scale pulsed corona reactor and the study of nitrous-oxide reaction kinetics using a simulated flue gas. Effluent gases are analyzed online using a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, a chemiluminescence NOx analyzer, and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MS) system. A mathematical analysis of nitrous oxide removal in the corona reactor is performed using a chemical kinetics model that follows important reaction steps and formation of undesirable byproducts. Although fluidized-bed combustion of coal produces less overall oxides of nitrogen and sulfur than traditional pulverized-coal boilers, it yields high levels of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. A control strategy is needed to make this technology environmentally acceptable.
