The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Nitric oxide absorption from flue gas with cumene hydroperoxide solution
Author:	Chen, Chung-Der
View Online:	njit-etd1993-067 (viii, 50 pages ~ 1.6 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Applied Chemistry
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Shaw, Henry (Committee chair) Perlmutter, Howard David (Committee member) Kebbekus, Barbara B. (Committee member)
Date:	1993-10
Keywords:	Nitric oxide -- Environmental aspects Nitric oxide -- Absorption and adsorption Flue gases -- Purification Cumene hydroperoxide -- Absorption and adsorption
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The absorption of nitric oxide from gas streams with cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) in n-hexadecane (cetane) as the scrubbing solution was investigated. The efficiency of the scrubbing solution to remove nitric oxide was evaluated over the temperature range of 90 to 110 °C, concentration range of 0.1 to 0.5M, and residence time of 12 to 80 seconds. The products were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ion chromatography (IC). The goal of this research was to determine the NO removing efficiency of cumene hydroperoxide solution, a relatively inexpensive tertiary organic hydroperoxide. Also, a possible reaction mechanism for the scrubbing reactions was postulated based on all by-products of the reaction. To achieve more reproducible results, the scrubbing device was redesigned to prevent possible gas leaking and to better control the temperature of the scrubbing solution. The NO removal ability of cumene hydroperoxide was found to be 70% at 100 °C, 0.5M CHP concentration, and 80 seconds residence time. Experiments showed the cumene hydroperoxide solution was stable up to 120 °C, but the CHP concentration decreased with NO presence by 0.18M. The products from NO oxidation remained in the scrubbing solution. The solution was then hydrolyzed with an aqueous ammonia solution. All nitrogen containing compounds in the scrubbing solution formed inorganic nitrate and nitrite ions. Important reaction by-products such as cumyl alcohol and a-methylstyrene were found by GC-FTIR and their concentrations were determined by comparing with standard solutions. The distribution of reactants and products was obtained and a possible mechanism of the NO with CHP reaction was proposed based on the information found this research.