DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGHLY RELIABLE COST-EFFECTIVE CONTINUOUS MCONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITOR

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE A PROOF OFCONCEPT EVALUATION OF AN INSTRUMENT CAPABLE OF MEASURING NO,02, AND SO2 USING UV ABSORPTION AND A PHOTODIODE ARRAY SPECTROPHOTOMETER. IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS INSTRUMENT WOULD SATISFY ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF A CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING SYSTEM REQUIRED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. SINCE ALL THREE GASES WOULD BE MEASURED WITH A S SINGLE INSTRUMENT WITH NO MOVING PARTS, IT IS BELIEVED THAT IT IS LESS COSTLY AND MORE RELIABLE THAN COMMERCIALLY AVA AVAILABLE INSTRUMENTS. THE PHASE I TESTING WILL INVOLVE AN EVALUATION OF THE CONCEPT IN THE LABORATORY UNDER SIMULATED FLUE GAS CONDITIONS. A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PHOTODIODE ARRAY SPECTROP PHOTOMETER WILL BE USED IN THE INITIAL PHASES OF TESTING. THE UNIT WILL BE MODIFIED USING A QUARTZ PRISM AND OPTICS TOPRODUCE THE SPECTRA OF INTEREST ACROSS THE DIODE ARRAY. TESTING WILL BE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE RESPONSE OF THE INSTRUMENT TO THE PRIMARY GASES OF INTEREST. POTENTIAL INTERFERENCE GASES WILL THEN BE INTRODUCED INTO THE SIMULATION GAS STREAM. AN ALGORITHM WILL THEN BE DERIVED TO ISOLATE AND DETERMINE THE CONCENTRATION OF THE THREE GASES OF INTER EST AND NULL OUT THE EFFECTS OF THE INTERFERENCE GASES.