Air Emissions Treatment

Because air pollutants vary in size many orders of magnitude,

many different types of treatment devices are required for
emissions treatment.
Air pollutant devices can be treated as black box separators, like
we studied in Chapter 3. Recovery efficiency can be described by
the equation:

R1 = (x1/x0) x 100

R1 = recovery of component 1, %
x1 = amount of pollutant collected by the device per
unit time, kg/sec
x0 = amount of pollutant entering the device per
unit time, kg/sec
Example
An air pollution control device removes a particulate that is being emitted at a
concentration of 125,000 g/m3 at an air flow rate of 180 m3/sec. The device
removes 0.48 metric toms per day. What are the concentration of the
emission and the recovery of collection?

Feed Pollution control Escaped

device
x0 x2
Removed
x1

At steady state the mass balance is:

Rate of particulates in = rate of particulates out

Rate of particles in = rate of particles removed + rate of particles escaping

Particulates in:
180 m3/sec x 125,000 g/m3 x 10-6 g/g = 22.5
g/sec
Particles
collected:
0.48 tons/day x 106 g/ton x 1 hr/3600 sec x 1 day/24 hr = 5.5 g/sec

Mass
balance:
22.5 = 5.5 + particles that escape

Particles that escape = 17 g/sec

Emission
concentration:
(17 g/sec x 106 g/g)/ 180 m3/sec = 94,000 g/m3

Recovery:

R = (x1 x 100)/x0 = (5.5 x 100)/22.5 = 24%

Treatment Devices
Settling Chambers
The simplest of treatment devices. Wide spot in the exhaust flue
that allows particles to settle out. Only very large particles (> 100
m) will settle effectively.
Cyclones
Bag Filter or Bag House
Spray Tower or Scrubber
Electrostatic Precipitators
Electrostatic Precipitators
Process Selection

A) Settling Chamber
B) Simple Cyclone
C) High-efficiency
Cyclone
D) Electrostatic
Precipitator
E) Spray Tower wet
scrubber
F) Venturi Scrubber
G) Bag Filter
Control of Gaseous Pollutants

Wet Scrubbers
Adsorption
Incineration or flaring
Catalytic Combustion
Wet Scrubber

Venturi Scrubber
Wet Scrubbers
Adsorption
Carbon Adsorption System
Incineration and Flaring
Control of Sulfur Oxides (SOx)
Emission of SOx one of the major causes of acid precipitation

Major source of SOx is coal-fired power plants

Several options for control:

Change to Low-sulfur fuel

Desulfurize the coal

Sulfur in coal is either organic (usually about 60%) or
inorganic (about 40%). The inorganic form is iron
pyrite (FeS2) that can be removed from the coal by
washing.

The removal of organic sulfur requires a chemical

reaction that is accomplished best if the coal is
gassified first. Gasified coal is like natural gas.
SOx Control Options (continued)
Tall Stacks
Flue-Gas Desulfurization

Contact with lime

SO2 + CaO  CaSO3

Contact with limestone

SO2 + CaCO3  CaSO4 + CO2

Calcium sulfite (CaSO3) and calcium sulfate (CaSO4)

are solids that have low solubilities so they can be
removed from the water by settling, but then there is
a disposal problem