Desulfurization and Denitrification of Ship Exhaust Gas with Low Temperature Plasma

Abstract In order to reduce the emission of pollutants such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides in ship exhaust gas, the principles and experimental methods of desulfurization and denitrification with low temperature plasma with dielectric barrier discharge were introduced in this study. The impacts of reactor voltage and reactor frequency of low temperature plasma, humidity and oxygen content of ship exhaust gas on the efficacy of desulfurization and denitrification were also explored by experiments in this study. It was revealed that the low temperature plasma technology could desulfurize and denitrify the ship exhaust gas better. The efficacy of desulfurization and denitrification would be increased when the voltage increases. At a voltage of 20 kV, the removal rates of NO and SO 2 reached 59% and 52% respectively. When the reactor voltage was maintained at 15 kV, the removal rates of NO and SO 2 would rise at the beginning and decrease later with increase of the frequency. The highest removal rates of NO and SO 2 were 55% and 42% respectively when the frequency was 10 kHz. The efficacy of desulfurization and denitrification can be affected by humidity and oxygen content of the ship exhaust gas. Researches in this study provided a crucial reference for the application of low temperature plasma technology in the desulfurization and denitrification of ship exhaust gas.