Advanced byproduct recovery: Direct catalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur. Second quarterly technical progress report, January--March 1996

In the more than 170 wet scrubber systems in 72,000 MW of US, coal-fired, utility boilers, the SO{sub 2} removed from the boiler flue gas is sorbed, and the sulfated sorbent must be disposed of. The use of regenerable sorbents has the potential to reduce this disposal problem. The team of Arthur D. Little, Tufts Univ., and Engelhard Corp. are conducting Phase I of a 4.5-year, two-phase effort to develop and scale-up a direct, single-stage, catalytic process for converting SO{sub 2} to S. This catalytic process reduces SO{sub 2} over a fluorite-type oxide such as ceria and zirconia; the catalytic activity can be promoted by active transition metals such as Cu. The Phase I program includes the following work elements: market/process/cost/evaluation; lab-scale catalyst preparation/optimization, lab-scale bulk/supported catalyst kinetic studies, bench-scale catalyst/process studies, and utility review