Carbon Monoxide- Source, Effects &

Control
06 CE 6024 Air Pollution Control Engineering

Dr. Ratish Menon

Associate Professor
Dept. of Civil Engineering
SCMS School of Engineering & Technology, Kochi
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Formation of CO
 Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, nonirritating, odorless and tasteless gas.
Formed as an intermediate product of reaction between carbonaceous fuels and oxygen.
when the theoretical amount of oxygen required for complete combustion is not available or
supplied.
 If temperature of combustion is high enough, carbon dioxide can dissociate to produce carbon
monoxide

 CO is more stable at high temperatures

CO is termed “Silent Killer” due to formation of Carboxy haemoglobin which reduces oxygen
carrying capacity (Hypoxia).Haemoglobin has 100 to 200% more affinity to CO over Oxygen.

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Sources of Carbon Monoxide
 Stationary sources
Industrial boilers, Chemical industries, petroleum refining, stationary engines, metal industries, solid
waste burning, smoking etc.

Mobile Sources
Vehicles- Petrol, diesel, LPG, CNG etc

Transportation sector is the major contributor (~80%) to the CO pollution

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 Monitoring of Carbon monoxide
Instrumental Methods Wet Chemical Methods
 Non Dispersive Infrared (NDIR) analysis
 Reduction of metal
 EPA reference method
 Reagents undergo chemical change upon reaction with
 Based on selective absorption of infrared
CO
radiation by carbon monoxide
 Quantity of species reduced is estimated
 IR radiation is passed through two parallel cells,
one for sample & other as reference. CO
 Catalytic oxidation
detectors then find the difference in absorption
 Oxidized to CO2
between these cells and estimate CO
 Quantity of CO2 produced is to be measured
concentration in the sample cell.
 Conditioning of gas is required to avoid interferences
 Gas Chromatographic analysis
 Complexation
 Offers greater sensitivity
 Exposes known quantity of gas to reagents that absorb
 CO is converted to methane using hydrogen gas
oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide
over nickel catalyst
 Volumetric change due to absorption is monitored
 Methane is then quantitatively analyzed using
 Orsat apparatus
flame ionization detector (FID)
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CO Control Techniques for Mobile
Sources
1. Treatment of exhaust gas
1. Catalytic converters
2. Improve Fuel-Air mixture distribution & control
a. Improved fuel metering
b. Air injection
c. Cold start control approaches
d. Improved EGR (Exahust gas recirculation)
3. Alternative engines which produce less CO
4. Alternate fuels

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CO emissions for different fuels

Source: Lizbetin et al., 2017

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CO control for industrial sources
1. Incinerators (thermal/catalytic)
2. Flares or plume burners
3. Carbon monoxide boilers
a. Typical gas fired steam boilers
b. CO waste gas stream is burned with supplemental fuel
c. Furnace temperature is maintained at 980 :C
d. At least 2% oxygen supplied

Catalytic After Burner

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