Abstract
Nitrogen dioxide is one of the most dangerous air pollutants, because its high concentration in air can be directly harmful to human health. It is also responsible for photochemical smog and acid rains. One of the most commonly used techniques to tackle this problem in large combustion plants is selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Commercial SCR installations are often equipped with a V2O5−WO3/TiO2 catalyst. In power plants which utilize a solid fuel boiler, catalysts are exposed to unfavorable conditions. In the paper, factors responsible for deactivation of such a catalyst are comprehensively reviewed where different types of deactivation mechanism, like mechanical, chemical or thermal mechanisms, are separately described. The paper presents the impact of sulfur trioxide and ammonia slip on the catalyst deactivation as well as the problem of ammonium bisulfate formation. The latter is one of the crucial factors influencing the loss of catalytic activity. The majority of issues with fast catalyst deactivation occur when the catalyst work in off-design conditions, in particular in too high or too low temperatures.