Catalytic Removal of Nitrogen Oxides and Elemental Mercury from Coal-Fired Flue Gas
This community develops catalysts and adsorbents to remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) and elemental mercury from the exhaust gases of coal-fired power plants, primarily using selective catalytic reduction with ammonia.
The work centers on designing metal oxide catalysts—often based on titanium dioxide, cerium, or manganese—and metal-organic framework-derived materials to achieve efficient NOx reduction at low temperatures. A major focus is enhancing these materials' resistance to sulfur dioxide poisoning and water vapor, which typically degrades performance in real-world flue gas environments. The community also investigates the simultaneous removal of NOx and mercury, utilizing activated carbon composites and porous materials to capture both pollutants in a single process.
The largest share of the community's output is found in mercury research, accounting for 3.0% of all tracked mercury studies, and 4,276 papers within this group. Nitrogen research follows with a 0.6% share, and sulfur research with 0.8%.
The community comprises 15,660 papers, published most frequently in Fuel, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.
Recent work continues to refine catalyst mechanisms, with a focus on engineering oxygen vacancies in metal oxides and developing high-entropy or single-atom catalysts to improve low-temperature activity and sulfur resistance for simultaneous denitrification and mercury removal.