Treatment of SO2 by pulsed, intense relativistic electron beam in distant gas chamber

Treatment of sulfur dioxide (SO/sub 2/) has been studied using a pulsed, intense relativistic electron beam (PIREB). The dependence of SO/sub 2/ concentration and the removal efficiency of SO/sub 2/ on the number of PIREB irradiation have been investigated within a distant gas chamber spatially isolated from the electron beam source. The distant gas chamber is filled up with a dry-air-balanced SO/sub 2/ gas mixture with the pressure of 270 kPa, and is irradiated by the PIREB (/spl sim/2 MeV, /spl sim/100 A, /spl sim/60 ns) passing through a 1.6-m-long atmosphere. With the initial SO/sub 2/ concentration of 100 ppm, /spl sim/60% of SO/sub 2/ is successfully treated by firing 10 shots of PIREB irradiation. The SO/sub 2/ removal efficiency has been found to be 3-37 g/kWh. We have also found that a certain amount of NO/sub 2/ is produced by irradiation of the PIREB.