FT-IR INSTRUMENTATION FOR SOLAR CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES

THE U.S. EPA ESTIMATES THAT 290 MILLION TONS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE ARE PRODUCED ANNUALLY IN THE U.S. THE MOST PROMISING METHOD FOR THE PERMANENT DISPOSAL OF ORGANIC WASTES IS HIGH-TEMPERATURE INCINERATION. WHILE SOLAR INCINERATION OFFERS SIGNIFICANT PROMISE AS A WASTE DISPOSAL TECHNOLOGY, THERE IS A STRONG NEED FOR ON-LINE AND IN-SITU DIAGNOSTICS DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROCESS AND FOR EVENTUAL USE IN PROCESS CONTROL. THE INNOVATION OFFERED IN THIS PROPOSAL IS THE APPLICATION FOR FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED (FT-IR) SPECTROSCOPY TO MAKE THREE KINDS OF MEASUREMENTS IN A SOLAR INCINERATOR: 1) HIGH SENSITIVITY MEASUREMENTS (PPB LEVELS) OF THE PRODUCT STREAM TO VERIFY THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HAZARDOUS WASTE, 2) MEASUREMENTS OF SPECIES CONCENTRATIONS AND TEMPERATURES WITHIN THE REACTOR ENVIRONMENT, AND 3) MEASUREMENT OF TEMPERATURES OF SURFACES IN THE REACTOR. FOR THE PRODUCT STREAM ANALYSIS, THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL PERFORM LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE CONCENTRATION DETECTION LIMITS FOR IMPORTANT HAZARDOUS WASTES AND PICS. FOR THE IN-SITU DIAGNOSTICS, WE WILL DETERMINE THE GEOMETRY REQUIRED FOR THE MEASUREMENTS AND PERFORM LABORATORY SIMULATIONS OF THESE MEASUREMENTS. IT ISPOSSIBLE TO MEASURE THE CO2 AND H2O GAS TEMPERATURES EVEN WITH THE POTENTIAL INTERFERENCE OF THE CONCENTRATED SUNLIGHTSINCE, IN THE REGIONS OF THE SPECTRUM WHERE THESE GAS TEMPERATURES ARE MEASURED, THE SUNLIGHT HAS BEEN ABSORBED BYTHE ATMOSPHERE AND SO NO INTERFERENCE OCCURS. FINALLY, THE FT-IR SYSTEM WILL BE BROUGHT TO THE SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR A ONE TO TWO WEEK PERIOD DURING WHICH ALL ASPECTS OF THE MEASUREMENTS WILL BE TESTED.