Process for recovering oxides of nitrogen and sulfur from gaseous mixtures

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR RECOVERING FROM A STREAM OF INDUSTRIAL GAS AN OXIDE OF A MULTIVALENT NONMETAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP WHICH CONSISTS OF SULFUR AND NITROGEN, SAID NONMETAL HAVING A GASEOUS HIGHER OXIDE REDUCIBLE TO A GASEOUS LOWER OXIDE IN A CARBONACEOUS ENVIRONMENT UPON BEING HEATED ABOVE A PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE ABOVE 300*C. BUT BELOW 600*C., SAID LOWER OXIDE OCCURRING AS A STABLE GAS IN SAID STREAM AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW 300*C., WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF MOVING SAID GAS STREAM PAST A SOLID CARBONACEOUS ADSORBING AGENT, OF RELATIVELY LOW AFFINITY FOR SAID LOWER OXIDE AND A RELATIVELY HIGH AFFINITY FOR SAID HIGHER OXIDE, IN THE PRESENCE OF ENOUGH OXYGEN TO CONVERT SAID LOWER OXIDE TO SAID HIGHER OXIDE, THEREBY CAUSING ADSORPTION OF SAID HIGHER OXIDE BY SAID AGENT, REMOVING THE OXIDE-LADEN AGENT FROM SAID GAS STREAM, AND REDUCING THE ADSORBED HIGHER OXIDE TO ITS LESS READILY ADSORBED LOWER VALENCE STATE BY REACTING IT IN ITS ADSORBED STATE WITH SOME OF THE CARBON OF SAID AGENT IN A SUBSTANTIALLY OXYGEN-FREE ATMOSPHERE ABOVE SAID PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE, THEREBY DESORBING THE LOWER OXIDE FROM SAID AGENT AND REGENERATING THE LATTER.