Technological Offer

Biofilters based on activated carbon-derived materials to remove NOx from air in urban environments and exhaust gases

Description

Lab-scale biofilters to evaluate NOx removal from air under different experimental conditions (NOx concentrations, temperature, humidity, air flow, etc.) are offered.

According to the World Health Organization, WHO, air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. NO2 pollution, which is mainly caused by road traffic, regularly exceeds current EU limits in many European cities. The installation of biofilters in certain areas (tunnels, underground parking areas, etc.) could contribute to reduce NOx pollution in large cities by passing through them the polluted air before being extracted to the ambient.

The IMDEA Energy lab-scale biofilters are currently used for testing different carbon-based materials obtained from biomass biochars/hydrochars activation. The set-up allows the simulation of different gas mixtures (NO and NO2 diluted in air/N2). The NOx removal efficiency can be monitored by a NOx on-line analyzer and/or a mass spectrometer.

Advantages and Innovations

Flexible operation in terms of working conditions such as temperature, relative humidity, NOx contaminants composition, and time, among others, which makes this lab-scale device to be particularly adapted to test small amounts of new developed sorbent materials for commercial as well as research purposes.

Market Applications

• Testing new developed materials (e.g. carbon-based) performance at different conditions for NOx removal.

• Research on synthesis and surface modification of carbon-based materials for environmental applications.

• Future installation of biofilters in located areas of large cities (tunnels, parking areas, etc.) for environmental applications

Contact

Félix Marín, felix.marin@imdea.org