Novel Sensor for Industrial Process Monitoring

Effective monitoring and control of steel manufacturing plants, industrial furnaces, boilers, incinerators and other combustion systems is limited by the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, speed (time response) and reliability of available sensors. As a result, industrial high-temperature processes release excessive toxic emissions, pollutants, and greenhouse gases and consume excessive energy during operation. The proposed project will yield a novel, robust instrument capable of accurately measuring several critical (off-gas) exhaust emissions (pollutants and greenhouse gases) in real time with unprecedented speed and reliability. The proposed instrument will be developed, tested and deployed in two steel manufacturing plants in Phase II to monitor several gases simultaneously to help increase process efficiency and significantly reduce hazardous and toxic gas emissions. An instrument based on tunable narrow-bandwidth mid-infrared lasers and open-path absorption spectroscopy will be developed and demonstrated to provide measurements with unprecedented speed, specificity and robustness for monitoring and control of industrial efficiency, unwanted pollutants and greenhouse gases. In Phase I, the instrument was demonstrated in a high enthalpy, high velocity flowfield generated by heterogeneous combustion processes. In Phase II, in collaboration with several industrial partners, the instrument will be deployed for long-term measurements of multiple pollutants and greenhouse gases and temperature in steel production plants and incorporated into a closed-loop system for real-time process control. LGR designed, developed and tested a novel breadboard instrument capable of monitoring several exhaust gas emissions from power plants, furnaces, boilers, incinerators and other combustion-based systems in real time with high speed and specificity. The instrument was deployed in a high enthalpy high velocity flow generated by heterogeneous combustion process for measurements of gas species and gas temperature in real time. In Phase II, the system will be incorporated into multiple industrial plants to validate performance and demonstrate ability for continuous measurements and control over extended periods, and incorporated into a closed loop system for real-time process control. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Instrumentation for monitoring combustion emissions (e.g., from power plants, furnaces, boilers, incinerators), for monitoring and control of industrial processes, for monitoring atmospheric pollutants, pollutants and greenhouse gases, and for engine diagnostics and automobile monitoring.