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Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015) E141

Remove Sulfur Dioxide from Flue Gases to Obtain Sulfuric Acid


through Electrodialysis Enrichment
Yu Yongtao, NingPing, Qu Guangfei,z Li Junyan, and Zhao Qian
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan,
People’s Republic of China

This article illustrates the experimental research which disposes low concentration SO2 flue gases through liquid absorption and
electrodialysis enrichment. It introduces the technology and devices to produce sulfuric acid by liquid absorption and oxidation of
low concentration SO2 in aqueous solutions as well as electrodialysis enrichment in the same reactor. Numerous experiments have
been carried out in order to observe the performance of the reactor under the operating conditions: the current density, temperature,
volume flow rate of the electrolyte, the sulfuric acid concentration, volume flow rate of the gas, the components of gas mixture, and
initial SO2 concentration. When the removal rate of SO2 reaches 83.64%, we eventually get sulfuric acid with the concentration of
28.56%.
© The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/),
which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any
way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse, please email: oa@electrochem.org. [DOI: 10.1149/2.0591509jes]
All rights reserved.

Manuscript submitted February 11, 2015; revised manuscript received June 4, 2015. Published June 25, 2015.

Sulfur dioxide in flue gas generated from the combustion of fossil 2SO3 2− → S2 O6 2− + 2e−
fuel, such as metal smelting factory, thermal power plants, etc. It is
the main cause of air pollution and acid rain. Many countries have At pH < 2, the mechanism leading to sulfate formation is
therefore adopted strict regulations to SO2 emissions from coal and suggested.
oil-fired boilers, which are one of the primary sources of SO2 emis- 2SO2 (aqu) + 2H2 O → S2 O6 2− + 4H+ + 2e−
sions. The increasing importance of sulfur dioxide pollution control
stimulated the improvement of technology for the removal of sulfur
S2 O6 2− + 2H2 O → 2HSO4 − + 2H+ + 2e−
dioxide from flue and waste gases.
The electrochemical processes which do not require the continu- There are many factors affecting the reaction process, the effect of
ous use of chemical reagents, possess advantages and bring a helpful pH and activation of SO3 2- ion has been discussed.14
contribution in the proposal or development of depollution processes.1 Absorption and oxidation of SO2 has typically necessitated the
Sulfur dioxide can be oxidized electrochemically to species such as use of Separate operations, and an electrolytic cell is used to restore
sulfuric acid and dithionite, the electrochemical oxidation of SO2 has absorption liquid performance. The using of electrodialysis in pu-
been investigated both as a pollution control method and as part of re- rification is potentially an attractive alternative to the promotion of
cycling and utilization of resources.2,3 The electrochemical oxidation absorption and enrichment.15
of sulfur dioxide can be achieved either through a direct process at an The objective of this research was to observe the performance of a
anode surface or using a redox mediator through a chemical process, reactor and a reaction process, which has unique design for gas–liquid
which has to be regenerated at the electrode.4 In the electrolysis of reaction systems for the direct electro-oxidation of sulfur dioxide to
the sulfur dioxide absorbed in aqueous solution, the process involves sulfuric acid. This application is to enable the recovery of SO2 from
a chemical oxidation of SO2 by adsorbed oxygen species.5 It is also waste gases, in the form of sulfuric acid. A further potential reduction
possible that SO2 is oxidized at the anode while hydrogen is produced in cost may result from performing the absorption of SO2 and its
at the cathode.6 Furthermore, the removal of SO2 from the copper ions electrochemical oxidation in one unit.
containing wastes provides electrowinning of copper simultaneously.7
The main products of electrochemical oxidation and reduction of SO2
in acid solution are sulfuric acid and sulfur, respectively. The forma- Experimental
tion of sulfur may come with a significant solids handling problem The experimental installation.— The reactor used in this study
and can lead to problems in cell operation.8 In many applications, for was a cylindrical electrochemical reactor with a height of 50 cm and
example, in the chemical process industries, sulfuric acid is a desir- an internal diameter of 10 cm. The reactor combines the function
able product as it can be used in chemical manufacture and is readily of gas absorption, electrochemical reaction and enrichment of con-
transported. centration in one unit. The exhaust gas enters the reactor from the
The overall reaction for the oxidation of SO2 can be written as: bottom, SO2 is absorbed and distributed uniformly into the catholyte
SO2 (aq) + 2H2 O → H2 SO4 + 2H+ + 2e− on the sieve aeration which has 0.1 mm pores at the bottom of the
column, the absorption chamber with a height of 15 cm. The elec-
2H+ + 2e− → 2H2 (g) trodialysis chamber was composed of anode plate, diaphragm, an-
ion exchange membrane, diaphragm, cathode plate, diaphragm, anion
Where hydrogen is formed at the cathode. exchange membrane. These eight components were arranged in se-
Dissolved sulfur dioxide is converted to sulfuric acid at the anode quence, rolled and inserted in the cylindrical cell. Then the anode and
and hydrogen is formed at the cathode.9 The mechanism of SO2 oxida- cathode were connected forming the reactor as shown in Fig. 1. The
tion in water is complex, the absorption of sulfur dioxide into aqueous length and width of anode plate, cathode plate, anion exchange mem-
solution is followed by several possible equilibrium processes.10–13 brane, diaphragm were all 20 cm and 100 cm, and the thicknesses
SO2 (g) → SO2 (aqu) were respectively 0.1 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.4 mm, 1.5 mm. The active area
of the cell is 0.2 m2 , and the effective reaction area which removing
SO2 + H2 O = H+ + HSO3 − clapboard borders and drainage channels was 1550 cm2 . The mix-
ture entered the cathode chamber between the coiling cathode plate
and anion exchange membrane. The sulfuric acid ion that catalyzed
z
E-mail: km_yyt@163.com from sulfurous acid ion and part of sulfurous ion entered the anode

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E142 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015)

Figure 1. The internal structure of purification equipment.

chamber through anion exchange membrane under the influence of C) to measure the gas flow rate of the simulated gas mixture with
electric field, the anode oxidized the sulfurous acid ion into sulfuric SO2 , CO2 , air and N2. Gas flow rates were converted to normalized
acid ion, and continuously increased the concentration of sulfuric acid volumetric flow rate where one mole is equal to 22.4 liters. The con-
out from the anode chamber, the liquid and purified gas separate from centrations of SO2 in the gaseous feed and from the reactor were tested
each other in separation chamber with a height of 15 cm at top of the by an online sulfur phosphorus microscale analyzer with a FPD detec-
reactor, the purified gas was discharged after detection, the absorption tor. (A GC-14 C gas chromatograph with flame photometric detector
liquid was recycled. and a polytetrafluoroethylene-packed column GD-401 support was
employed in this study).Cell voltage was supplied by a power supply
Material and methods.— The cylindrical reactor shell, the reactor (SUN, Type SNP-60N-6450 CV/CC DC regulated power supply). The
internal pipe, the diaphragm between plates, the sieve aerator, were temperature of the electrolyte is controlled by a thermostat(OMRON
all made of polytetrafluoroethylene. The cathode was manganese ox- E5CN/E5CN-U Digital Temperature Controller). The concentration
ide catalyst on 304 chrome-nickel austenitic stainless steel substrate. of sulfurous and sulfuric acid ion was detected by barium chromate
The anode was Ru-Ir-Ti oxide coating on titanium substrate. The spectrophotometry16 and gravimetric method using barium chloride.17
polyethylene heterogeneous membrane was used as anion exchange
membrane which was made of a styrene quaternary ammonium type The experimental process.— The electrodialysis reactor was
anion exchange resin using polyethylene as the adhesive and through placed in a gas and electrolyte flow circuit as shown in Fig. 2. The
mixing pull piece with net cloth reinforced polyethylene, and was Anolyte Tank and Catholyte Tank were filled with water. Flow of
made by the membrane manufacturing institute Shanghai of Chinese. gas mixture was initiated and outlet concentration of SO2 was moni-
We use multi-channel flow controller (Seven Star Electronics Co,LTD. tored. Saturation of catholyte was indicated when inlet and outlet gas
D08-1F Flow/Pressure Controller and Mass Flow Meter Type D07-19 stream concentrations were equal. Then electric current was initiated.

Figure 2. Process flow diagram of electrodialysis purification.

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Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015) E143

A saturated solution forms an effective electrolyte to conduct electric


current. During electrolysis the system runs under the condition that
continuous supply of raw gas and diluted sulfuric acid solution were
continuously recycled throughout the reactor. The SO2 removal effi-
ciency was defined by the SO2 concentration difference at the outlet
and inlet of the reactor. All current efficiency data quoted in this work
were computed from the loss of SO2 in the exit gas. The analysis of
SO2 in solution was carried out by barium sulfate gravimetric method.
After each operation, they were cleaned and rinsed with distilled water.

Results and Discussion


Influence of the process parameters.– Electric current.— Take the
water as the absorption solution, in the mixed gas flows, SO2 flow
rate was maintained 50 mL/min and admission concentration was
1100 ppm. Ventilate continuously before applying voltage and mea-
sure the sample each 5 min. The outlet original concentration profile
of SO2 and its profile after its saturation of the electrolyte (curve I)
and the curve after the current was switched on (curve II) were shown
in Fig. 3. Saturation of SO2 gas in solution takes 100 min. The outlet Figure 4. The effect of current density. (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm;
concentration decline dramatically when the electrolysis start, Outlet Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; Gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; Components of
concentration of SO2 decreased from 1100 to 180 ppm (a relatively gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.)
constant value) and the removal rate achieves 83.64%.
After electrolyte saturated, set 5 current densities: 5, 20, 30, 40, tion enhancement causes the increases voltage and heat generation,
50 mA/cm2 . Record the effect of current density to the SO2 purification and increasing current density also can’t promote SO2 absorption but
efficiency. The purification efficiency at different current densities was increase the electrical energy consumption. Therefore, in order to save
shown in Fig. 4. The experimental result showed that the purification energy and ensure efficient removal of SO2 , we suggest the current
efficiency increases along with the enhancement of current density. density is controlled at 40 mA/cm2 .
The purification efficiency was lower than 50% and the purification Electrolyte flow rate.—An increased flow of electrolyte may avoid
effect was not obvious when the current density range from 5 mA/cm2 the decline of chamber fluid conductivity, the rise of voltage, heat
to 20 mA/cm2 ; purification efficiency increased obviously when elec- and energy consumption and other issues caused by concentration
tric current range from 20 mA/cm2 to 40 mA/cm2 , the efficiency polarization and bubble effect. The electrolyte flow rate can effect the
achieved its maximum as 83.64% at 40 mA/cm2 ; after surpassing SO2 outlet concentration and the reactor electric current voltage obvi-
40 mA/cm2 , increased current can make purification efficiency drop ously. At first, this work observed the effect of flow rate to SO2 outlet
instead. Current efficiency of 43%, 15%, 12%, 9%, 7% corresponding concentration. In cathode chamber, the initial SO2 concentration was
to the current density of 5, 20, 30, 40, 50 mA/cm2 respectively upon 1100 ppm, the gas discharge rate was 50 mL/min, the current density
reaching steady state. Along with the increasing current density, re- was 40 mA/cm2 . The concentration of outlet gas change along with
moval rate and energy consumption increased while current efficiency flow rate of electrolyte, as shown in Fig. 5. After 100 min electrolysis,
reduced obviously. the outlet concentration of SO2 decreased from 1100 ppm to 180 ppm
When the current density is low, the voltage could not achieve the at 100 mL/min and to 260 ppm at 1000 mL /min. The research showed
electric potential that electrode reaction demand and the SO2 elim- that the SO2 outlet concentration increased with increasing electrolyte
ination efficiency is low. After the current density reaches a certain flow rate probably due to the decrease in residence time and there-
level, the solubility of SO2 in absorption solution dropped because of fore the decrease in the liquid-to-electrode transfer rate. SO2 outlet
the gas produced by electrolysis reduced the electrical conductivity of concentration increased obviously after the flow rate was greater than
absorption solution obviously; the two-pole concentration polariza- 1 L/min.

Figure 3. SO2 saturation process and the changes after making current. (Cur-
rent density of 40 mA/cm2 ; Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; Gas flow rate of Figure 5. The change with the catholyte flow rate. (SO2 concentration of 1100
50 mL/min; Components of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of ppm; Current density of 40 mA/cm2 ; Gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; Components
40◦ C.) of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.)

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E144 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015)

Figure 6. The relationship between voltage and current density with the Figure 8. The relationship between current density and removal efficiency
anolyte flow rate. (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm; Gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; under different gas flow rate.(SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm; Current density
Components of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.) of 40 mA/cm2 ; Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; Components of gas is SO2 +
Air; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.)

In the anode chamber, the change of electrolyte flow rate can cause
distinct change of current density, as shown in Fig. 6. The figure shows It can be seen from Fig. 7 that the removal rate of SO2 was higher
that current density increased with increasing anolyte flowrate for a under low velocity, partly because the gas stream converted to small
given voltage. Also the effective electrical resistance decreased with bubbles and distributed in the absorption solution, then mixed with the
increasing anolyte flowrate. electrolytic solution along the gas rise direction. Gas-liquid contact
In the anode chamber, the increased electrolyte flow rate reduced area increased in the process of gas flow and it had more resident time
the concentration polarization and the bubble effect, and then the num- in the reactor under lower gas flow rate. What’s more, the absorption
ber of ions migrate through the membrane in the reactor increased of SO2 is enhanced. Therefore, the removal efficiency decreased with
accordingly. Experiment showed that the current density through the the increase in the gas flow rate under constant liquid flow rate.
reactor increased with increasing electrolyte flow rate when voltage It can be further observed from Fig. 8 that the decrease in removal
was constant. Outlet SO2 concentration increased significantly with efficiency of SO2 was more obvious with the increase of gas flow rate
increasing flow rate, and increasing flow rate can increase the number in lower current densities. Therefore, higher current density should be
of extra power consumption. In order to maintain balanced pressure applied at higher gas flow rate. This can be explained in the way that
on both sides of the membrane and increase energy efficiency without the increase in gas flow rate and the decrease in gas residence time
making the SO2 removal efficiency decreased significantly, the elec- reduce gas-to-liquid mass transfer rate. Higher gas flow rate resulted
trolyte flow rate should be 100 ml/min both in the anode chamber and in lower removal efficiency due to the increase resistance and the
the cathode chamber. decrease current density.
Gas flow rate.—The gas flow rate related to the volume of the reactor Gas composition.—The content of carbon dioxide and air in flue gases
(space velocity) is a very important economic viability parameter for should be taken into account in the development of the equipment
absorption process. Fig. 7 represented the SO2 outlet concentration for desulfurization of waste gases. In order to determine the effects
profiles under the function of gas flow rate. After 100 min electrolysis of these gases in electrochemical SO2 absorption, gas mixtures of
the outlet concentration of SO2 decreased from 1100 to 180 ppm at SO2 + air, SO2 + CO2 , SO2 + N2 , SO2 + CO2 + air were fed
50 mL/min and to 400 ppm at 200 mL/min. to the electrochemical absorption column. Variation of outlet SO2
concentration from different gas compositions were shown in Fig. 9.

Figure 7. The change with the gas flow rate. (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm; Figure 9. Variation of outlet SO2 concentration from different compo-
Current density of 40 mA/cm2 ; Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; Components nents of gas mixture. (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm; Electrolyte flow of
of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.) 100 mL/min; Gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; The reaction temperature of 40◦ C.)

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Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015) E145

Figure 10. The relationship between outlet SO2 concentration and its initial Figure 11. Outlet SO2 concentration under the function of temperature (SO2
concentration. (Current density of 40 mA/cm2 ; Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; concentration of 1100 ppm;gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; electrolyte flow of
Gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; Components of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction 100 mL/min; current density of 40 mA/cm2 .)
temperature of 40◦ C.)

Current density of 40 mA/cm2, initial SO2 concentration of 1100


ppm and gas flow rate of 50 mL/min, electrolyte flow rate of 100 The consequence of the reaction.– pH.— The reaction was started
L/min. After 100 min of electrolysis, outlet SO2 concentration was under such conditions: the SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm, the cur-
180 ppm for SO2 + air, 200 ppm for SO2 + N2 , 240 ppm for SO2 + rent density of 40 mA/cm2 , gas flow rate of 50 mL/min, the absorption
CO2 and 210 ppm for SO2 + CO2 + air. liquid flow rate of 100 mL/min, SO2 mixed with air, and the temper-
It can be observed that the presence of CO2 actually led to the ature was 40◦ C. The change of pH value in electrolysis process was
decrease of SO2 removal efficiency. The reasons may be that SO2 ab- measured and the results were shown in Fig. 12.
sorption process was controlled by the gas film, high concentrations of As seen in Figure 12, the acidity of the catholyte decreased due
CO2 in the mixture involved in chemical equilibrium process, thereby to the consumption of H+ along with electrolysis time increase, but
increasing SO2 gas phase mass transfer resistance and impact absorp- the formation of sulfurous acid from absorbed SO2 suppressed the
tion rate of SO2 .18–20 Oxygen in the air increased the oxidation to SO2 tendency of alkalinity’s enhancement in cathode. Thus the cathode
and removal efficiency was enhanced, dilution of sulfur dioxide with pH value rise slowly and become stable at 4.5. In anode region, the
air instead of nitrogen also reduced the energy consumption, therefore H+ density was increased by oxygen evolution, in addition, that an-
the removal efficiency from the mixture of SO2 + air topped out. ion exchange membrane enriched acid radical in the anode chamber
Initial SO2 concentration.—Gas pollutant concentrations often change also reduced the pH value, thus the anode chamber acidity strength-
in dynamic range, so two different sulfur dioxide concentrations were ened unceasingly, and the anode pH value reduced unceasingly and
investigated. The two initial SO2 concentrations and their absorption achieved 0.8 along with acid radical ion’s concentrating.
were shown in Fig. 10. Generally, outlet SO2 concentration decreased Reaction products.—Concentration variation of SO3 2− and SO4 2− in
with increasing treatment time. The concentration of SO2 in the simu- cathode and anode area liquid phase during the absorption process
lated exhaust gas increased from 1100 to 2500 ppm, and SO2 removal have been detected, the curve was shown in Fig. 13.
at the outlet of the reactor dropped from 83.64% to 56%. This change
indicates that the oxidation of SO2 is mainly decided by the liquid
phase mass transfer. When the inlet concentration increases, mass
transfer efficiency reduce accordingly, thus the residual SO2 increase.
Temperature.—A series of runs was performed at different tempera-
tures, including 20◦ C, 30◦ C, 40◦ C and 50◦ C, provided with constant
gas and liquid conditions: SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm; current
density of 40 mA/cm2 ; gas flow rate of 50 mL/min; electrolyte flow
of 100 mL/min. The recorded temperature was the outlet temperature
of the catholyte. Outlet SO2 concentrations in different temperature
were shown in Fig. 11.
It can be observed that the removal efficiency increase with an
increase in temperature. But when temperature surpasses 40◦ C, the
removal efficiency of SO2 decrease instead. The reasons are that the
electrode kinetics and diffusion-convection phenomena are to be ac-
celerated with the increase of temperature, however the solubility of
SO2 decrease with the increase of temperature. In the whole process,
acceleration of kinetics and mass transfer phenomena have dominant
effect on the performance than the solubility of SO2 . Therefore, the
reactivity of the solution increased with increasing temperature when
current density was constant, but if the temperature surpasses 40◦ C, Figure 12. pH changes during the reaction. (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm;
the ion exchange membrane exceeds the optimum activation temper- Current density of 40 mA/cm2 ; Electrolyte flow of 100 mL/min; Gas flow rate
ature range and the ion exchange rate is lowered, thus the outlet SO2 of 50 mL/min; Components of gas is SO2 + Air; The reaction temperature of
concentration increased.21–24 40◦ C.)

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E146 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015)

cathode region increased with SO2 absorption before electrolysis, and


decreased rapidly after electrolysis.
When absorbed without electricity, SO2 was absorbed and gen-
erated SO3 2− . SO3 2− mass concentration increased and few SO3 2−
are oxidized to SO4 2− , thus SO4 2− concentration also increased; Af-
ter the voltage was added, a large number of SO3 2− are oxidized to
SO4 2− , so SO4 2− mass concentration increased rapidly, and SO3 2−
mass concentration decreased significantly. Products of SO2 elec-
trochemical oxidation are greatly decided by pH value. The Nernst
equation can determine the relationship between pH with the shift
in the S(IV)/S(VI) system.25 SO3 2− and SO4 2− migrated and en-
riched to the anode side with the influence of an electric field and
anion exchange membranes, the final SO4 2− concentration achieved
116.69 g/L in anode side.
Concentration effect.—The concentration effect of reactor in anode
chamber have been tested respectively in 1%, 10%, 15%, 20% con-
centration sulfuric acid, the SO2 was not flowing, the electrolyte was
flowing. The results were shown in Fig. 14.
Figure 13. SO4 2− and SO3 2− mass concentration during electrolysis absorp- The experimental result is: the initial H2 SO4 with concentra-
tion of SO2 at different time (SO2 concentration of 1100 ppm, the gas flow tion of 1% concentrate to 1.88% after 5 hours; the initial H2 SO4
rate of 50 mL/min, the electrolyte flow rate 100 mL/min, current density of with concentration of 10% concentrate to 18.22% sulfuric acid after
40 mA/cm2 , reaction temperature of 40◦ C.) 10 hours; the initial H2 SO4 with concentration of 15% concentrate
to 26.82% after 90 hours; the initial H2 SO4 with concentration of
20% only concentrate to 28.56% after 108 hours. And further ex-
The results shows that SO4 2− concentration gradually increases tending reaction time cannot increase the concentration of sulfuric
with the absorption of SO2 in the anode region and the cathode re- acid.
gion, and the tendency of increase after being powered is greater The results shows that we can obtain the highest concentration
than powerless; SO3 2− mass concentrations in anode region and the of sulfuric acid within 30 % under the existing reacting system. The

Figure 14. Concentration effect of H2 SO4 in the anode compartment with different concentrations sulfuric acid (a chart 1%, b chart 10%, c chart 15%, d chart
20%).

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Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 162 (9) E141-E147 (2015) E147

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