The influence of chemical modifications on Nitric Oxide (NO) conversion using oil palm fibre

Abstract

Nitrogen oxides (NOx), are toxic gasses mainly contributed from industrial and mobile sources which may harm both human and the environment. The NOx removal by Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technique using a carbonaceous material as catalysts support is an alternative method which has been studied at the lower temperature. The use of oil palm wastes in the SCR system is very promising as it is abundantly available in Malaysia. A series of experiments were been conducted to study the effects of different carbonization temperatures (350, 400, 450, 500 and 550°C) for 24 hours on characteristics of porosity in carbonized oil palm empty fruit bunch carbon (EFBC). The BET surface area, total volume and average pore diameter of EFBC obtained at 550°C indicated the highest at 861.22 m2/g, 0.89 cm3/g, and 4.13 cm3/g, respectively. Besides, the SCR of nitric oxide (NO) with the condition of 1000 ppm initial NO concentration, 100 ml/min total flow rate, and 100°C reaction temperature for C-350°C and C-400°C were been conducted. The completed saturation process for NO conversion at 400°C carbonization temperature was indicated slower to achieve than the NO conversion at 350°C. The maximum adsorption capacity of NO for C-400°C was higher than C-350°C which is 0.431 mg/g and 0.267 mg/g, respectively. From the results, it was concluded that the higher the BET surface area, total volume and average pore diameter of EFBC, the better the NO conversion and the adsorption capacity.