Grantee Research Project Results

A Long-Life, Low-Cost Sorbent for the Conversion of HCl to Chlorine

EPA Contract Number: 68D70016
Title: A Long-Life, Low-Cost Sorbent for the Conversion of HCl to Chlorine
Investigators: Copeland, Robert
Small Business: TDA Research Inc.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 1997 through March 1, 1998
Project Amount: $70,000
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (1997) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: SBIR - Pollution Prevention , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

Description:

The U.S. demand for chlorinated hydrocarbons exceeds 15 million tons annually. The production of these chemicals requires chlorine (Cl2) and produces HCl as an unavoidable by-product. Stringent environmental regulations limit the shipment of hazardous wastes like HCl, and the disposal of HCl by neutralization is costly. A consortium of 15 companies is developing an in-process recycling system to oxidize the waste HCl into chlorine, which is internally recycled to the chlorinator. Unfortunately, due to equilibrium constraints, even when pure O2 is used as the oxidant, not all of the HCl can be converted back to Cl2. Thus, the process incorporates a second stage sorbent, CuO, which removes the residual HCl and recycles it back to the oxidizer. Because the Cl2 loading on the current sorbent is low, contribution of the sorbent to the process cost is high.

TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) has developed long-life sorbents with high loadings of the chemically active materials for hot gas and flue gas cleanup applications. In this Phase I project, TDA will apply its technology to improve the CuO sorbent. During Phase I, TDA will develop a new sorbent for the conversion of HCl to Cl2. Several formulations will be evaluated, and one sorbent will be exposed to several cycles in the Product Development Unit (PDU). TDA also will evaluate the economics of the approach. It is anticipated that the sorbent loading will be improved by a factor of five over the current sorbent. This improvement will reduce the sorbent replacement cost by a factor of five and the cost of chlorine recovery by about a factor of two, greatly improving the economics of the chlorine recovery process.

Supplemental Keywords:

small business, SBIR, pollution prevention, engineering, chemistry., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, Toxics, Water, Waste, Sustainable Industry/Business, Chemical Engineering, cleaner production/pollution prevention, Environmental Chemistry, Sustainable Environment, Chemistry, HAPS, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Hazardous Waste, New/Innovative technologies, Chemistry and Materials Science, Drinking Water, Engineering, EPCRA, Hazardous, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, Environmental Engineering, in-process changes, Chlorine, cleaner production, Hydrogen chloride, chemical use efficiency, chemical byproducts, in process recycling, recovery, clean technology, chemical contaminants, chlorinated hydrocarbons, Deacon reaction, process modification, treatment, sorbents, in process treatment, chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs), sorbent based process, long-life sorbent, chlorine recovery, pollution prevention, drinking water treatment, CuO sorbent, hydrogen chlorine, other - risk management, chlorinated solvents

Progress and Final Reports:

Final

SBIR Phase II:

A Long-Life, Low-Cost Sorbent for the Conversion of HCl to Chlorine  | Final Report