Efficient NO reduction by CO on Cu/Ce co-modified CaO in calcium looping CO2 capture process

In the calcium looping CO 2 capture process, using CO in the flue gas to reduce NO at a high molar ratio of CO to NO (e.g., above 10:1) can achieve efficient removal of NO. However, the lots of unreacted CO causes secondary pollution. In this study, a novel Cu/Ce co-modified CaO was proposed for cyclic CO 2 capture and the catalytic NO reduction at a low CO:NO molar ratio (e.g., 2:1). The experimental findings indicate that Cu/Ce modification improves the performance of CaO in both catalytic NO reduction and carbonation. The Cu/Ce co-modified CaO contained the optimal Cu/Ce/Ca molar ratio of 1:5:100 possesses both NO removal and CO conversion efficiencies of above 99 %, along with CO 2 removal efficiency exceeding 88%. Microscopic analysis determines that the electron transfer between Cu and Ce facilitates the conversion of lattice oxygen into surface oxygen, mitigating the competition between CO 2 and CO for surface oxygen. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations demonstrate that CO/NO/CO 2 exhibits non-competitive adsorption behavior on Cu/Ce co-modified CaO. Consequently, Cu/Ce-modified CaO possesses superior catalysis for efficient NO reduction by CO at low CO:NO molar ratio in calcium looping process.