Dioxins in the sintering flue gas are usually removed through integrated elimination technologies by carbonaceous catalysts. However, the regeneration of the used catalyst is poorly investigated, leading to the risk of leakage of dioxins. Herein, the influences of cyclic regenerations on the dioxin removal performance of a catalyst (V2O5/AC) were investigated systematically with dibenzofuran (DBF) as a model pollutant. It was demonstrated that the adsorption capacity and oxidation activity of catalysts significantly declined after several regeneration cycles due to the decreasing external specific surface area and V5+, respectively. Compared with 79.12% DBF directly emitted from a regenerator during N2 regeneration, the emission of DBF was only 29.93% with the modification of the regeneration process through O2 addition and temperature adjustment. The possible regenerated products were also analyzed to disclose the transformation behaviors of DBF. The regeneration mechanisms of DBF followed the transformation pathway of dibenzofuranol, benzofuran, anhydride species, and ultimately to CO2 and H2O. Moreover, the accumulated heavy aromatics on the surface could be decomposed by introducing O2. This research provides a comprehensive understanding of dioxin transformation behavior and a theoretical basis for efficient control of dioxin removal in the whole integrated removal technologies.
Keywords: V2O5/AC; cyclic regeneration; dioxins; product analysis; regeneration behaviors.