A pilot-scale study of selective desulfurization via urea addition in iron ore sintering

The iron ore sintering process is the main source of SO2 emissions in the iron and steel industry. In our previous research, we pro-posed a novel technology for reducing SO2 emissions in the flue gas in the iron ore sintering process by adding urea at a given distance from the sintering grate bar. In this paper, a pilot-scale experiment was carried out in a commercial sintering plant. The results showed that, com-pared to the SO2 concentration in flue gas without urea addition, the SO2concentration decreased substantially from 694.2 to 108.0 mg/m3 when 0.10wt% urea was added. NH3 decomposed by urea reacted with SO2 to produce (NH4)2SO4, decreasing the SO2concentration in the flue gas.