| Abstract
| - Nitric oxide, a byproduct of combustion exhaust, is a keyspecies that leads to urban photochemical smog.Nitricoxide exhibits low aqueous solubility, and it has proveddifficult to remove NO from gas streams by aqueousscrubbingmethods. A catalyst for the aqueousdisproportionationof NO to nitrous oxide and aqueous nitrite has beendevelopedwith wood-derived activated carbons. Addition ofpalladiumor platinum metal to the carbon support significantlyaccelerates catalysis. The carbon-supported catalystwasnot poisoned by sulfur oxides. The reaction isthoughtto involve the reduction of surface-bound nitric oxidedimers.The reducing equivalents stem from the oxidation ofNOto NO2-. Addition of oxygen as analternative electronacceptor during the reaction immediately arrested nitrousoxide formation, and all the nitric oxide was removed fromthe gas stream as aqueous nitrite. This demonstratesthefeasibility of removing SOx andNOx simultaneously by low-temperature aqueous scrubbing.
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