Sodium bicarbonate BICAR^® is very reactive with HCl and allows mitigating HCl to a very low level (below 5 mg/Nm3) in order to respect even the most severe regulations.

Process : reactions

 1. Thermal activation of sodium bicarbonate 

                                 T > 140°C 
    2NaHCO₃ ---------------------------> Na₂CO₃ + CO₂ + H₂O



2. Acid neutralization 

    ALCALI + ACID GAS ------------------> SALT 

    NaHCO₃ + HCl -------------------------> NaCl + CO₂ + H₂O



In waste-to-energy plants, municipal and medical waste incinerators, cement kiln operations, brick and structural clay manufacture, chlorides present in the fuel source will be converted to HCl during combustion.  As most coal contains some amount of chlorine compounds, any coal-fired process will also generate HCl.
HCl is corrosive and contributes to acid rain and the formation of smog. The European Directive 2010/75/EU (Attachment 6 - Chapter 4) is very severe (HCl < 10 mg/nm³) and some existing local constraints fix even a maximum HCl level bellow 5 mg/nm³.


The SOLVAir^® Solution

When used as a dry sorbent injected upstream from a bag filter, sodium bicarbonate BICAR^® readily reacts with acid gases.
It removes HCl at higher rates than other dry sorbents.
When active carbon or lignite coke is injected as well, the gases are also cleaned of heavy metals and dioxins/furans down to the most stringent legal limits.
As the process is totally dry, no aqueous effluent is generated which would then have to be treated.
Sodium bicarbonate BICAR^® is a safe, non-corrosive solution for  Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) applications.


Regulatory : European Reference Documents (BREF)


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