The enhancement of the NO/carbon reduction reactions by carbon monoxide has been
demonstrated for carbons of widely varying nature (coal char, phenolic resin-derived char and
graphite). The evidence supports enhancement of NO reduction via a carbon-surface-catalyzed
reaction such as NO + CO → 1/2N2 + CO2. This reaction appears to be characterized by an
activation energy of around 116 kJ/mol, and by zero order with respect to CO, in the range of CO
pressures examined here (up to order 500 ppm). This suggests that an oxide stripping reaction,
e.g., CO + C(O) → CO2 + C*, cannot be invoked in its usual form, to explain the rate enhancement.
The reaction appears to be first order with respect to NO, at high temperatures and at NO
concentrations of above roughly 100 ppm, but kinetic analysis is complicated by the fact that the
NO−carbon reaction itself does not have a unique order at low temperatures. It is also shown
that kinetic analysis can be greatly complicated in the presence of other oxidizing gases or surface
oxides deposited by these gases.