What are the methods for treating carbon monoxide tail gas?

In today's era of rapid industrialization and urbanization, the emission of carbon monoxide tail gas has caused great trouble to humans and the environment, and has become a top priority for environmental protection. Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless toxic gas. For this reason, it has quietly sneaked into human life, not only posing a serious threat to human health, but also having a negative impact on the atmospheric environment. Especially in the current saturated automobile market, the emission of automobile exhaust is seriously exceeded, and some factories produce carbon monoxide during the production process. They are threatening us all the time, which makes it urgent to find an effective treatment method for carbon monoxide. Next, we will discuss in detail three common and effective methods for treating carbon monoxide tail gas.
1. Catalytic combustion method
Catalytic combustion is the most common, commonly used and efficient method for removing carbon monoxide, in which carbon monoxide catalyst plays a key role. Among the many types of carbon monoxide catalysts, transition metal oxide catalysts have shown a high cost-effectiveness in the fields of automobile exhaust treatment due to their unique advantages. Researchers and related R&D teams have been continuously updating the research on carbon monoxide catalysts.
(I) Working principle
The working principle of carbon monoxide catalyst is the catalytic effect of carbon monoxide catalyst in oxidation reaction. Carbon monoxide catalyst can generate carbon dioxide when carbon monoxide and oxygen react, which can reduce the activation energy required for the reaction process. Like transition metal oxide carbon monoxide catalyst, its surface has many active sites. When the exhaust gas containing carbon monoxide passes through the catalyst, carbon monoxide molecules will be adsorbed on these active sites. At this time, oxygen molecules will also be adsorbed on the catalyst surface. The carbon monoxide molecules adsorbed on the active sites react chemically with the active oxygen species to generate carbon dioxide molecules. The carbon dioxide molecules desorb from the catalyst surface and enter the exhaust emission system. The carbon monoxide content in the exhaust gas discharged will be significantly reduced.
(II) Advantages in automobile exhaust treatment
In terms of automobile exhaust treatment, transition metal oxide carbon monoxide catalysts have more advantages than other methods. First of all, from a cost perspective, compared with precious metal catalysts (such as platinum, palladium, etc.), the raw material price of transition metal oxides will be more favorable. Therefore, in large-scale applications, the price alone can effectively reduce production costs and improve the cost performance of products. Secondly, the catalytic activity and stability of transition metal oxide carbon monoxide catalysts are also relatively high. Although its catalytic activity may not be as good as that of precious metal catalysts, it can meet the needs of effectively converting carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide in the normal working conditions of treating automobile exhaust emissions.
2. Combustion method
The combustion method is a very direct method for treating carbon monoxide exhaust gas. It uses the flammability of carbon monoxide to react with oxygen in the air under certain conditions to convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide. This method usually needs to be carried out in specific combustion equipment to ensure the safety and efficiency of the combustion process.
3. Absorption method
The absorption method uses a specific absorbent to react physically or chemically with carbon monoxide, and then separates carbon monoxide from the exhaust gas. Commonly used absorbents include some solutions and solid adsorbents.

The treatment of carbon monoxide exhaust gas is crucial to environmental protection and human health. Catalytic combustion method, combustion method and absorption method all have their own advantages. Transition metal oxide carbon monoxide catalysts are valued by researchers for their high cost-effectiveness and development potential in the fields of automobile exhaust treatment. With the continuous updating and advancement of technology, carbon monoxide exhaust treatment plays a more important role. In actual applications, we still need to choose different methods to treat carbon monoxide gas according to specific working conditions to achieve the goal of efficient, economical and environmentally friendly carbon monoxide exhaust treatment.

author：Hazel
date:2025-07-02