A COMPLETE COMBUSTIO ANALYSIS USING A COMBINATION FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTROMETER

A CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON A COMBINATIO FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTROMETER (FT-IR/FT-RAMAN) IS PLANNED FOR ANALYSIS OF FLUE GAS AND COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY TO ENHANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF U.S. FOSSIL RESOURCES FOR ENERGY CONVERSION. THE UNIQUE INSTRUMENT DESIGN EMPLOYS A SINGLE INTERFEROMTER THAT CAN SIMULTANEOUSLY ACQUIRE BOTH INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTRA. THE COMPLEMENTARY NATURE OF THESE TWO SPECTROSCOPY IS CAPABLE OF MEASURING PPM LEVELS OF WATER; CARBON, SULFUR, AND NITROGEN OXIDES; AMMONIA; UNBURNED HYDROCARBONS; AND CHLORINATED COMPOUNDS. RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY CAN MEASURE PERCENT LEVELS OF THESE COMPOUNDS, AS WELL AS OXYGEN AND NITROGEN THUS ALLOWING DETEERMINTION OF COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY. FURTHERMORE, MEASUREMENTS OF INFRARED RADIATION EXTINCTION CAN BE USED TO DETERMINE PARTICLE SIZE, DISTRIBUTION, AND CONCENTRATION. IN ADDITION, INFRARED MEASUREMENTS OF MOLECULAR ROTATIONAL FINE STRUCTURE CAN BE USED TO DETERMINE GAS PHASE TEMPERATURE. FINALLY, SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENT OF CARBON DIOXIDE BY INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY CAN PROVIDE A CONTINUOUS SELF-CALIBRATING SYSTEM. PHASE I WILL INVOLVE MODIFICATION OF A STATE-OF-THE-ART INTERFEROMETER TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PERFORM INFRARED AND RAMAN MEASUREMENTS AND DEMONSTRATE ITS ABILITY TO MONITOR APPROPRIATE COMPONENTS IN A MODEL COMBUSTION REACTOR. PHASEII WILL DEVELOP A RUGGED SPECTROMETER AND EXPLORE THE ABILITY TO MONITOR APPROPRIATE COMPONENTSIN A MODEL COMBUSTION REACTOR. PHASE II WILL DEVELOP A RUGGED SPECTROMETER AND EXPLORE THE ABILITY FOR THIS SYSTEM TO IMPROVE BURNER EFFICIENCY, THEREBY REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION,AND TO DETERMINE COMPLIANCE FOR ADVANCED FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTORS.