High Conductivity, Low-Cost Sic/Sic Composites

65400 The need for continuous emission monitoring of metals in flue gases from waste-combustion facilities is driven by regulations. Unfortunately, no commercially available technologies exist for reliable, continuous emissions monitoring of multiple metals. Thus, instead of monitoring the emission of metals continuously, compliance with the regulations is currently demonstrated during an initial controlled burn. However, a controlled burn may cost $100,000 or more, and does not guarantee that the initial burn will reflect routine operating conditions. This project will develop and demonstrate a new continuous monitoring system for multiple metals. The system, based on ion mobility spectrometry, will be designed to collect, precondition, and analyze stack emissions for multiple metals. Phase I will (1) fabricate and test a novel particulate-collection device for sampling and processing target metals, and (2) build and test an ion-mobility drift tube specifically designed to detect, measure, and speciate metal ions. A determination will be made as to whether the ion mobility spectrometry has the requisite sensitivity and resolution for effectively and efficiently monitoring multiple metals in flue-gas particulates. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by awardee: The ability to continuously monitor multiple metals should be an important adjunct to the performance of waste incinerators within the DOE complex and for industry in general. The real-time emission measurements should allow plant operators to respond quickly to deviations from acceptable levels, thereby protecting public health. Economic benefits should also result. Furthermore, the multi-metal monitor should have applicability to the monitoring of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, a potentially much larger market that will develop as EPA implements regulations on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants