Sulfur oxides are present in the gases from burning coals and these pollutants are harmful to the environment. Sulfur removal in the fluidized bed reactor applying limestones is an efficient technology. During sulfation, the formation of CaSO4 leads to the partial or complete blockade of the particle interior, resulting in a low efficiency of the use of limestones. As the desulphurization capacities of the sorbents are strongly affected by thermal condition, this paper focuses on the study of the development of the particles’ physical structure before and during sulfation reaction. The experiments were performed for two Brazilian limestones, a calcite and a dolomite. The particles were well characterized by BET analysis and mercury porosimetry and the behavior of the sorbents was observed through thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The morphological analysis of the surface of both raw calcite and dolomite particles indicated that dolomite was a less compact sorbent. However, after calcination and sulfation, the change in pore and voids distributions showed that for dolomite both swelling and partial pore filling could take place, whereas for calcite the spaces between particles were maintained constant, possibly owing to a less intense swelling. In 30 min of reaction under air atmosphere TGA measurements provided conversions of 0.40 ±0.061 for the calcite, and 0.55 ±0.089 for the dolomite. The results showed strong dependence on meso and macropores region with high conversion of the sorbents. The reactivity differences between calcite and dolomite can also be explained based on the swelling of the particles.
Surface hydrophilization of highly porous poly(ether imide) microparticles by covalent attachment of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)
