IN-LINE MONITORING OF PARTICULATES IN GAS STREAMS

A FEASIBILITY STUDY AND FIELD TESTING OF A NEW PROPRIETARY METHOD CAPABLE OF IN-LINE, REAL-TIME MONITORING OF FLOW OF SOLID AND LIQUID PARTICLES IN GAS STREAM PROPOSED FOR THIS PHASE I PROJECT. THE EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE IN WHICH COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE INSTRUMENTATION IS USED HAS ALREADY BEEN TESTED IN THE LABORATORY AND IN ONE FIELD APPLICATION. THE LABORATORY TESTS DEMONSTRATED THAT FLOW OF SOLID AND LIQUID PARTICLES WEIGHING LESS THAN 0.00001 GRAM CAN BE DETECTED AND THAT THEIR KINETIC ENERGY, MASS, ENERGY AND MASS DISTRIBUTION, AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS CAN BE MEASURED. ONE INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF THE METHOD HAS BEENFIELD TESTED, I.E, DETECTION OF EXFOLIATED OXIDES IN STEAM LINES OF UTILITY BOILER/TURBIN CYCLES. THE TEST WAS SUCCESSFUL IN DETERMINING OPERATING MODES DURING WHICH SOLIDPARTICLE EROSION DAMAGE OF STEAM TURBINE OCCURS. BASED ON THE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE AND WORK PERFORMED, WE ARE PROPOSINGTO APPLY THE PARTICLE DETECTION METHOD TO: (1) FLUE GAS MONITORING (TO PREVENT FAN AND FILTER DAMAGE AND MALFUNCTION AND TO MONITOR COMBUSTION AND POLLUTION). (2) TURBINE STEAM MONITORING FOR EXFOLIATED OXIDES (TO PREVENT SOLID PARTICLE EROSION). (3) TURBINE STEAM MONITORING FOR WATER DROPLETS (TO PREVENT WATER INDUCTION). OUR PRELIMINARY WORK GIVES US CONFIDENCE THAT THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS AND THAT THE PROPOSED CAN BE ACHIEVEDAT LOW R&D COST AND WITHIN A SHORT TIME.