Regenerative Reactor for NOx Abatement

A novel reactor, capable of regenerating heat of reaction into the inlet stream, was analyzed for application to NOx reduction by oxygen and methane in nitric acid tail gas. The process was evaluated thermodynamically and kinetically over conventional catalysts. The device was simulated mathematically, and isothermal bed characteristics were obtainable. The simulated unit was also demonstrated with bench-scale hardware. Satisfactory performance was achieved on feed streams that could not otherwise be processed in single reactors.