Economic viability and overall performance analysis of optimized Cu-Fe-ZSM-5 catalyst for NOx and particulate matter removal using NH3-SCR

The necessity of a broader working temperature range of NH3-SCR catalysts has been considered as the need of the hour to tackle air pollutants like NOx and particulate matter (PM). The catalysts currently being used pose varied difficulties in the form of sulphur poisoning, inadequate temperature range, catalyst regeneration etc. An innovative and economic bimetallic combination of Cu-Fe on ZSM-5 with minimum weight percentage of metals and optimum efficiency has been synthesized in this study. In this research, we further focus on this Cu-Fe combination, to understand its feasibility for commercial applications. This bimetallic combination, used on the self-synthesized zeolite (ZSM-5), showed a consistent NOx removal efficiency of above 90% over the entire test temperature range, when compared with a commercially available zeolite. This Cu-Fe combination catalyst performed outstandingly in resisting sulphur poisoning and had NOx and PM emission coefficients well below the standard emissions control of Taiwan. It showed a good N2 selectivity as well. The study also analyses the costbenefit ratio for the production of this catalyst for industrial applications with an annual net profit of around 14,66,124.09 USD for five parallel units.