Abstract
We review the state of the art and explain the need for better SO(2) oxidation catalysts for the production of sulfuric acid. A high-throughput technology has been developed for the study of potential catalysts in the oxidation of SO(2) to SO(3). High-throughput methods are reviewed and the problems encountered with their adaptation to the corrosive conditions of SO(2) oxidation are described. We show that while emissivity-corrected infrared thermography (ecIRT) can be used for primary screening, it is prone to errors because of the large variations in the emissivity of the catalyst surface. UV-visible (UV-Vis) spectrometry was selected instead as a reliable analysis method of monitoring the SO(2) conversion. Installing plain sugar absorbents at reactor outlets proved valuable for the detection and quantitative removal of SO(3) from the product gas before the UV-Vis analysis. We also overview some elements used for prescreening and those remaining after the screening of the first catalyst generations.