Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of concern because some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. PAHs are generated by incomplete combustion of organic material arising, like industrial production, transportation, waste incineration and so on. However, the coal-fired boiler is a major stationary source of PAHs emission. PAHs are kinds of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are difficult to degrade. Some reports suggested that the efficiency of degradation of PAHs can be improved with some specific catalyst.

China has the world’s largest production and combustion of coal, making big contribution on regional and global emission of PAHs. It is expected that the coal production and combustion would be increasing because of the expanding energy demand of industrialization and urbanization. The followings are achievements on catalytic degradation of PAHs in flue gas:

Noble metal is employed as active element of catalyst, which is loaded on multi-carrier of CeO2 and Al2O3 for abatement of PAHs in flue gas.

Efficiency of different kinds of noble metals based catalyst on the conversion of PAHs is experimented in a tube quartz furnace.

The physico-chemical properties of catalyst are also characterized and tested for improving the method of catalyst preparation.