Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
PROCESSES, cilt.13, sa.12, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Growing efforts to reduce air pollution have accelerated the development of advanced flue gas treatment technologies for coal-fired power plants. This study presents the design, development, and industrial-scale implementation of a microwave-assisted non-thermal plasma reactor, powered by a 75 kW, 915 MHz magnetron, for simultaneous sulfur dioxide (SO2) removal and fly ash agglomeration. The reactor was installed on the outlet line of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system of a 22 MWe pulverized-coal-fired boiler and evaluated under real flue gas conditions. The flue gas stream, extracted by an induced-draft fan, was supplied to the reactor through two configurations-radial and axial injection-to investigate the influence of gas flow rate and microwave power on SO2 abatement performance. Under radial injection, the system achieved a maximum SO2 removal efficiency of 99.0% at 5194 Nm(3)/h and 75 kW, corresponding to a specific energy consumption of 14.4 Wh/Nm(3). Axial injection resulted in a removal efficiency of 97.5% at 4100 Nm(3)/h. Beyond SO2 mitigation, exposure of flue gas to the microwave-assisted plasma environment significantly enhanced particle agglomeration, as confirmed by means of SEM imaging and particle size distribution analyses. Notably, the proportion of fine particles smaller than 2.5 mu m (PM2.5) decreased from 70.25% to 18.63% after plasma treatment, indicating improved capture potential in the downstream electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Overall, microwave-assisted plasma provides efficient SO2 removal and enhanced particulate capture, offering a compact and potentially waste-free alternative to conventional systems.