A METHOD AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR AIR TOXICS

THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE NATIONAL NEED TO DEVELOP AN EFFICIENT METHOD AND INSTRUMENT TO MONITOR AIR TOXICS IN GAS FLOWS. THE CURRENT SITUATION REQUIRES THE DETAILED CHARACTERIZATION OF TOXIC AIR EMISSIONS FROM FLUE GASES WHILE THE EXISTING MEANS LACK SELECTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE. NEW AND HIGH PERFORMANCE METHODS AND DETECTORS ARE NEEDED FOR QUALITY MONITORING. A NOVEL, HIGH PERFORMANCE, ON-LINE LASER AIR TOXICS MONITOR IS PLANNED. A UNIQUE ZEEMAN REFRACTIVE INDEX (RI) DETECTOR WILL BE A BASIS FOR THE PROJECT. IT IS ULTRASENSITIVE, ROBUST, AND HIGH SPEED. HOWEVER, IT DOES MEASURE THE CHANGES IN THE RI OF THE MIXTURE RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL CONCENTRATIONS OF THE COMPONENTS. AN INNOVATIVE METHOD OF DETECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS WITH THE DETECTOR IS PLANNED. THE METHOD IS BASED ON HIGH-SPEED MULTIPLEMEASUREMENTS OVER THE MIXTURE WITH SYSTEMATIC CHANGE OF ITS PARAMETERS. TO AFFECT THE MIXTURE,AN EXTERNAL LASER WILL BE USED WHICH CAN SELECTIVELY HEAT A COMPONENT BY RADIATION WITH THE WAVELENGTH TYPICAL FOR THE ABSORPTION BAND OF THIS COMPONENT. THE DATA OBTAINED FORM THE MULTIPLE MEASUREMENTS ALLOW THE INDIVIDUAL CONCENTRATIONS TO BE CALCULATED. IN PHASE I A LABORATORY SETUP WILL BE DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED TO VERIFY THE PROOF-OF-CONCEPT OF AIR TOXICS MONITORING USING THE ZEEMAN RI DETECTOR AND THE PLANNED METHOD. IN PHASE II, FUTHER TESTING AND REFINEMENT OF THE METHOD AND THE AIR TOXICS MONITOR WILL BE COMPLETED, CULMINATING IN THE TEST OF THE MONITOR IN THE SIMULATED CONDITIONS OF A PLANT. IN PHASE III, AN ADVANCED COMMERCIAL AIR TOXICS MONITOR BASED ON THE RESULTS OF PHASE I AND PHASE II WILL BE DESIGNED ANDBUILT.