Gasmet Technologies - a Nederman company applications
Several EU directives and national laws in European countries set requirements for continuous monitoring of flue gas emissions at power plants. Further requirements are set on the quality assurance of the installed measurement systems at the plants. The relevant standard in this regard is EN 14181:2004, the quality assurance of automated measuring systems. The standard dictates how to determine that the measurement systems installed for continuous emissions monitoring at a plant operate according to the directives and regulations set. Two major parts of this on-going quality assurance cycle are the QAL2 and AST procedures. A test laboratory performs tests on the systems on-site, and determines whether the systems fulfill the set requirements or not.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has two stack testing methods for FTIR gas analyzers. Method 320 is an FTIR method for measuring wide range of organic and inorganic pollutants. Method 321 is a specific version for measuring hydrogen chloride HCl at cement kilns producing Portland cement. These methods define a quality assurance and control processes for verifying the accuracy of the results. The requirements for analytical equipment and software are defined on 40 CFR Part 60 Appendix B Performance Specification 15. Gasmet™ Gas Analyzers and Calcmet™ software have been designed to take the requirements of the performance specification into account.
Typical modern printing processes utilize solvent-based dyes. The evaporation of the dye solvents into the ambient air during the printing process may expose the workers to various chemicals. Depending on the type of solvents in case, the solvents have different long term exposure limits, which should be obeyed. Component specific measurements are necessary to protect the workers from exposure while avoiding unnecessary interruptions to the printing process from false alarms.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an emerging method of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of power plants. In a process called ‘scrubbing’, the carbon dioxide emissions can be absorbed into chemical solvents consisting of amines or carbonates. Scrubbing is a well-established method of carbon capture, with virtually every commercial CO2 capture plant in operation using this process. In the process, the first step is the removal of impurities from the flue gas, such as hydrocarbons and oxides of both nitrogen and sulfur (NOx and SOx). Next, the purified gas is passed through an absorption column filled with the chemical scrubbing solvent. The solvent reacts with the carbon dioxide and selectively absorbs it from the gas stream. When CO2-rich solvent is heated, the carbon dioxide is released as a nearly pure gas.
In most combustion process atmospheric nitrogen reacts with oxygen in high temperature conditions to produce nitrogen oxides (NOx). Total NOx production is the sum of nitrogen monoxide NO and nitrogen dioxide NO2. The emissions of these gases are controlled through setting of emission limit values (ELVs) for power plants.
The exhaust gas from combustion engines is a complex mixture of gases and particulate matter. The composition of the gas may change rapidly. Multicomponent analysis of exhaust gases can be performed with a Gasmet™ FTIR Gas Analyzer with a response time (T90) of one second. The winning combination is the result using of a small volume gas sample cell, a powerful sample pump and a fast detector with liquid nitrogen cooling. The analyzer, sampling system and computer can be assembled on a cart for use in a dynamometer laboratory, or the portable version can be used for roadside tests.
Modern production method of nitric acid production may lead to generation of several different gaseous emission components, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia NH3 and nitrous oxide N2O. Nitrogen monoxide is an intermediate gaseous product in manufacturing of nitric acid HNO3. NO is formed in a catalytic reaction between ammonia and molecular oxygen O2. But undesirable side reactions may result in formation of nitrogen dioxide NO2 and nitrous oxide N2O. The NO and NO2 emissions can be reduced by use of Selective Catalytic Reduction unit (SCR), which deploys ammonia gas NH3 to limit emissions of NO and NO2. A modern nitric acid plant needs to monitor the emissions of these gases.
Nitric acid HNO3 is an important intermediate reagent for production of several important end products, such as fertilizers, explosives, dyestuffs/pigments, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, photographic materials, plastics, and synthetic fibers. At nitric acid manufacturing plants, the Gasmet™ FTIR Gas Analyzer can be used to measure several gaseous components from the process stream for purposes of process control. A single system can be used to measure the high levels of nitrogen monoxide NO and nitrogen dioxide NO2, as well as water vapor H2O, nitrous oxide N2O, carbon monoxide CO, carbon dioxide CO2 and ammonia NH3. The fixed installation products for these purposes are the Gasmet™ CEM II measurement system, and the Gasmet™ FCX Gas Analyzers, both of which utilize the FTIR measurement technique for simultaneous multicomponent analysis of the sample gas.
In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, various perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are used. The emissions of the PFC compounds into the ambient air are reduced by scrubbing of the exhaust gases from the process. In this process, the Gasmet™ FTIR Gas Analyzers can be used to measure the emissions into the atmosphere and also monitor the efficiency of the scrubbers. Typically monitored PFCs in the exhaust gas include carbon tetrafluoride CF4, trifluoromethane CHF3, and hexafluoroethane C2F6.
Titanium dioxide is the most important white pigment used in the polymer industry. It is widely used, because it efficiently scatters visible light, thereby imparting whiteness, brightness, and opacity when incorporated into a plastic product.