Method for preventing elemental sulfur from adhering to electrode surface in process of electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide
Technical Field
The invention relates to a method for synthesizing elemental sulfur by electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide, in particular to a method for preventing the elemental sulfur generated in the process of electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide from adhering to the surface of an electrode by using a surfactant, belonging to the technical field of recycling useful resources from nonferrous smelting flue gas.
Background
Based on the concepts of environmental protection and resource recycling, the current research on air pollution gradually focuses on the direction of how to utilize pollutants as resources. For the resource utilization of sulfur dioxide pollution gas, the sulfuric acid is prepared by oxidation or the sulfur is prepared by reduction. With the increase of the demand of sulfur in China, the technology of simply and effectively converting sulfur dioxide into elemental sulfur is continuously concerned and developed. Electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide generationElemental sulfur is a method with a good application prospect due to mild reaction conditions, low energy consumption and simple operation, but the problem of low catalytic reduction efficiency of an electro-reduction catalyst related in the prior art generally exists, and in the process of producing the elemental sulfur by reducing sulfur dioxide through a cathode, the effective area of an electrode is reduced due to easy adhesion of sulfur per se and an electrode material, and the electrolytic efficiency is greatly reduced after long-time continuous electrolysis, which is to realize the purpose of realizing high-concentration SO in colored smelting flue gas at present2The technical problem to be solved is urgently needed in the electrocatalytic reduction process.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects that the existing method for converting sulfur dioxide into elemental sulfur through electrocatalysis has low catalytic efficiency, the elemental sulfur is adhered to the surface of an electrode to poison the electrode and the like, the invention aims to provide the method for preparing the elemental sulfur poisoning electroreduction catalyst, which has high electrocatalysis reduction efficiency on sulfur dioxide, can effectively prevent the elemental sulfur generated by reduction from being adhered to the poisoning electroreduction catalyst, can be implemented at normal temperature and normal pressure, is simple to operate, can greatly reduce energy consumption, and is favorable for popularization and application.
In order to achieve the technical purpose, the invention provides a method for preventing elemental sulfur from adhering to the surface of an electrode in the process of electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide, wherein a three-electrode system is adopted in the electrocatalytic reduction process, a cathode chamber and an anode chamber of the three-electrode system are separated by adopting a proton membrane (DuPont N117), electrolyte in the cathode chamber is sulfur dioxide absorption liquid added with a surfactant, and electrolyte in an anode chamber is Na2SO4/H2SO4In the mixed solution, a metal electrode (lead, copper, titanium and the like) is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, a Saturated Calomel Electrode (SCE) is used as a reference electrode, and elemental sulfur particles are separated out from electrolyte in a cathode chamber after electrocatalytic reduction. The reduction voltage is controlled to be-0.6V to-1.2V.
In a preferred embodiment, the surfactant is at least one of isopropyl alcohol, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate and polyvinylpyrrolidone. By adopting the preferable surfactant, the adhesion of elemental sulfur generated by sulfur dioxide electrocatalysis reduction on the surface of an electrocatalysis reduction electrode can be reduced, so that the poisoning effect of the elemental sulfur on the electrode is obviously weakened.
In a preferable scheme, the addition concentration of the surfactant in the sulfur dioxide absorption liquid is 0.1-5 g/L.
In a preferred scheme, the sulfur dioxide absorption liquid is sulfur dioxide water absorption liquid or sulfur dioxide alkaline absorption liquid. The water absorption liquid of sulfur dioxide is mainly H2SO3Solutions, sulfur dioxide alkaline absorption solutions such as ammonia sulfite solution, potassium sulfite solution, sodium sulfite solution, etc., which are all suitable for the technical solution of the present invention.
Preferably, the metal electrode is a lead electrode, a copper electrode or a titanium electrode. The electrocatalytic reduction efficiency of sulfur dioxide can be obviously improved by selecting a proper metal electrode as an electrocatalytic reduction catalyst. Particularly, when a lead electrode is used as an electrocatalytic reduction catalyst, the electrocatalytic reduction efficiency of sulfur dioxide is far superior to that of a copper electrode and a titanium electrode.
Preferably, the pH value of the sulfur dioxide absorption liquid is controlled to be less than 2 in the electrocatalytic reduction process. The control of the acidic environment with a pH of less than 2 is beneficial to the implementation of the electrocatalytic reduction process of sulfur dioxide, which is difficult to implement if the pH is higher than 2, and the pH can be adjusted to less than 2 by means of inorganic acid.
Preferably, the temperature is controlled to be above room temperature during the electrocatalytic reduction process. The electrocatalytic reduction process of the sulfur dioxide can be smoothly carried out at room temperature.
In a preferable scheme, the reduction potential is controlled to be-0.6V to-1.2V (relative to a saturated calomel electrode) in the electrocatalytic reduction process. Elemental sulfur is difficult to obtain in the electrolytic process under the condition that the reduction potential is-0.6V-0V, and the hydrogen evolution reaction in the electrolytic process is serious under the condition that the reduction potential exceeds-1.2V, so that the Faraday efficiency for reducing the elemental sulfur is greatly reduced.
The invention adopts a path of generating elemental sulfur by electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide: first, sulfur dioxide forms thiosulfate (S) during the reaction2O3 2-),S4O6 2-Is SO2And thiosulfate radical (eq.1),second, S4O6 2-Can pass through S2O3 2-(eq.3) and S is presumed to be formed by a combination of the two reaction paths2O3 2-Is S4O6 2-A precursor of (a); since thiosulfate and tetrathionate are easily converted into elemental sulfur at low pH, the reaction path in this system is presumed to be as shown in equations 4 and 5. S2O3 2-And S4O6 2-Is an intermediate product of the reaction, and the lead (copper, titanium and the like) electrode mainly acts on the formation process of the intermediate product to accelerate the transfer of electrons.
4SO2+3H2O→2SO4 2-+S2O3 2-+6H+ (1)
2SO2+S2O3 2-+2H++2e→S4O6 2-+H2O (2)
2S2O3 2-→S4O6 2-+2e (3)
S4O6 2-+H+→S+SO2+H2O+SO4 2- (4)
S2O3 2-+H+→S+SO2+H2O+SO4 2- (5)
Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the invention has the following beneficial effects:
1) according to the technical scheme, the metal electrode (lead, copper, titanium and the like) has high activity on electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide or sulfite ions to generate elemental sulfur, so that sulfur resources in high-concentration sulfur dioxide gas in non-ferrous smelting flue gas can be effectively recovered and converted into elemental sulfur with high value, the problem of environmental pollution is solved, and economic value is also generated;
2) the technical scheme of the invention reduces the adhesion of elemental sulfur generated by electrocatalytic reduction of sulfur dioxide on the surface of the electrode by using the surfactant, so as to solve the technical problem that the elemental sulfur adheres on the surface of the electrode to poison the electrode.
3) The technical scheme of the invention can realize the conversion of the sulfur dioxide absorption liquid at room temperature and normal pressure, has mild reaction conditions and low energy consumption, and is beneficial to industrial application.
4) The technical scheme of the invention adopts an electrocatalytic reduction mode, and has the characteristic of high reaction efficiency.
Drawings
FIG. 1 shows a comparison of the effects of different surfactant additions on the i-t curve.
FIG. 2 is an SEM image of the surface of the electrode before and after the addition of the surfactant.
FIG. 3 is a comparison of the effect of adding different concentrations of surfactant on the i-t curve.
FIG. 4 shows the current density and hydrogen evolution potential of different electrodes at lower overpotentials.
Detailed Description
The following examples are intended to further illustrate the present invention, but not to limit the scope of the claims.
The sulfur dioxide absorption solution in the following examples was electrocatalytic reduced using a three-electrode system. The cathode chamber and the anode chamber of the three-electrode system are separated by a DuPont N117 proton membrane, the electrolyte in the cathode chamber is sulfur dioxide absorption liquid, and the electrolyte in the anode chamber is Na2SO4/H2SO4The solution was mixed, the metal sheet as the working electrode, Pt as the counter electrode and SCE as the reference electrode.
The following examples are not specifically illustrated, and the chemical reagents used are all conventional commercial products, and are analytical reagents.
Example 1
Analytically pure sodium sulfite, no surfactant.
50mL of water and sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) in a certain ratio are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to be used as a catholyte, 50mL of anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution is used as an anolyte, a lead sheet is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, and SCE is used as a reference electrode. And carrying out electrochemical performance test. In the process, an electrolytic potential of-0.8V is selected, the electrolytic capacity is controlled to be the same (400C), the concentration of sulfite is 0.08mol/L, the pH value of a cathode and anode electrolytic chamber is adjusted to 0.5 by adopting sulfuric acid, the stirring speed is 1000rmp, and a current density-time curve (i-t curve) is tested. The slope of the i-t curve is 0.09.
Example 2
50mL of water, sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) and 5% isopropanol solution (0.01mol/L) in a certain ratio are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to be used as catholyte, 50mL of anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution is used as anolyte, a lead sheet is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, and SCE is used as a reference electrode, and electrochemical performance test is carried out. In the process, an electrolytic potential of-0.8V is selected, the electrolytic capacity is controlled to be the same (400C), the concentration of sulfite is 0.08mol/L, the pH value of a cathode and anode electrolytic chamber is adjusted to 0.5 by adopting sulfuric acid, the stirring speed is 1000rmp, and a current density-time curve (i-t curve) is tested. The slope of the i-t curve can be reduced from 0.09 to 0.06.
Example 3
50mL of water, sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) and 0.3g/L of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in a certain ratio are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to be used as catholyte, 50mL of anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution is used as anolyte, a lead sheet is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, and SCE is used as a reference electrode, and electrochemical performance test is carried out. In the process, an electrolytic potential of-0.8V is selected, the electrolytic capacity is controlled to be the same (400C), the concentration of sulfite is 0.08mol/L, the pH value of a cathode and anode electrolytic chamber is adjusted to 0.5 by adopting sulfuric acid, the stirring speed is 1000rmp, and a current density-time curve (i-t curve) is tested. The slope of the i-t curve can be reduced from 0.09 to 0.05.
Example 4
Analytically pure sodium sulfite, and 0.01mol/L Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) is selected as the surfactant.
50mL of water, sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) and 0.01mol/L Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) in a certain ratio are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to be used as catholyte, 50mL of anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution is used as anolyte, a lead sheet is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, and SCE is used as a reference electrode, so that the electrochemical performance test is carried out. In the process, an electrolytic potential of-0.8V is selected, the electrolytic capacity is controlled to be the same (400C), the concentration of sulfite is 0.08mol/L, the pH value of a cathode and anode electrolytic chamber is adjusted to 0.5 by adopting sulfuric acid, the stirring speed is 1000rmp, and a current density-time curve (i-t curve) is tested. The slope of the i-t curve can be reduced from 0.09 to 0.03.
Example 5
Analytically pure sodium sulfite, and four Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) with different concentrations are selected as the surfactant.
50mL of water, sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) and Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) (0.01mol/L, 0.0075mol/L, 0.005mol/L and 0.0025mol/L) in a certain proportion are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to be used as a cathode electrolyte, 50mL of anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution is used as an anode electrolyte, a lead sheet is used as a working electrode, Pt is used as a counter electrode, and SCE is used as a reference electrode, and electrochemical performance test is carried out. In the process, an electrolytic potential of-0.8V is selected, the electrolytic capacity is controlled to be the same (400C), the concentration of sulfite is 0.08mol/L, the pH value of a cathode and anode electrolytic chamber is adjusted to 0.5 by adopting sulfuric acid, the stirring speed is 1000rmp, and a current density-time curve (i-t curve) is tested. After linear fitting, the slopes are respectively 0.0056, 0.0053, 0.0055 and 0.0056, and the difference between the slopes is small, which shows that the influence of the concentrations of the SDBS on the current attenuation condition is not large in a certain time, that is, the SDBS with small concentration has a good inhibition effect on the adhesion of sulfur on the surface of the electrode, so in the subsequent experiments, the addition amount of the SDBS is controlled to be 0.0025 mol/L.
Example 6
Analytically pure sodium sulfite, the reduction voltage is-0.8V, the pH value is 0.25, and 0.01mol/L Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) is selected as a surfactant.
50mL of water, sodium sulfite (0.08mol/L) and a surfactant (0.01mol/L sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate) in a certain ratio are uniformly mixed and taken out to a cathode chamber to serve as catholyte, 50mL of an anhydrous sodium sulfate aqueous solution serves as anolyte, a lead sheet serves as a working electrode, Pt serves as a counter electrode, SCE serves as a reference electrode, sulfuric acid is used for adjusting the pH value of the cathode and anode electrolytic chamber to be 0.25, the electrodes are fixed, and a sealing cover is screwed down. Reducing voltage is minus 0.8V, water at normal temperature is circularly cooled, electrolysis is stopped after 30min, and elemental sulfur is generated. Electrolyzing to obtain milky white or milky yellow suspension. And transferring the suspension to a beaker, and carrying out constant-temperature water bath at 70-80 ℃. After a period of time, the small solid particles in the solution agglomerate and the solution becomes clear. And then, carrying out suction filtration on the solution to obtain a solid product, and drying the solid product at 60 ℃ to constant weight, wherein the Faraday efficiency is 83.5%.
Example 7
Comparison of electrocatalytic properties and electrocatalytic selectivity properties of different electrodes. Mainly comparing the current density and hydrogen evolution potential of different electrodes at lower overpotentials. In the electrolysis experiment, lead, titanium and copper are respectively used as cathodes, and the electrolyte in a cathode chamber is 0.08mol/L Na2SO3And 0.5mol/L H2SO4The mixed solution is 0.08mol/L Na electrolyte in an anode chamber2SO4And 0.5mol/L H2SO4The solution was mixed, the pH of the two electrolysis chambers was adjusted to 0.5, and the solution was subjected to linear voltammetry, the results of which are shown in fig. 4. The initial potentials of lead and titanium electrolysis are not obviously different and are about-0.4V (relative to SCE), and the reduction peak current in a Pb electrode system is obviously enhanced compared with that of titanium and glassy carbon electrodes at a more negative potential, so that Pb has better catalytic performance. Cu shows a smaller initial reduction potential, but at low potentials the hydrogen evolution reaction of Cu is equally vigorous and SO2The catalytic reduction reaction potential window on the surface of the copper electrode is narrow (-0.5 to-0.75V vs. SCE), the hydrogen evolution potential of the Pb electrode is obviously higher than that of Ti, Cu and the like, and SO is added2The reduction potential window is wider, and the inhibition of the hydrogen evolution reaction and the SO are favorably realized by controlling the potential2The reduction efficiency is improved, and the reduction efficiency is better SO2The catalytic cathode material is electro-reduced.