Sulfur Chemistry in Combustion II: Flue Gas Desulfurization

Several options are available to control the emission of SO2 from combustion processes. One possibility is to use a cleaner technology, i.e. fuel switching from oil and coal to natural gas or biomass, or to desulphurize coal and oil. Another possibility is to change to a different technology for power production, such as sun, wind or nuclear power. However, presently and in the near future the most important technology to reduce SO2 emissions from power production is flue gas desulphurization (FGD). There are several methods of FGD, but the majority of the plants are wet scrubbers. In this paper, a short survey of different FGD methods will be given, followed by a more detailed treatment of wet scrubbers.