CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITOR FOR HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS

THE EMISSION OF HALOGEN CONTAINING POLLUTANTS FROM A VARIETY OF POWER GENERATING, WASTE PROCESSING, CHEMICAL PRODUCTION, AND SOLVENT USING INDUSTRIES IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN OF MAJOR SIGNIFICANCE. INORGANIC HALOGEN SPECIES, INCLUDING HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND HYDROGEN FLUORIDE, REPRESENT MAJOR POTENTIAL HEALTH THREATS TO BOTH HUMAN, ANIMAL, AND PLANT COMMUNITIES. ORGANIC HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS (HOCS) HAVE BEEN INDICTED AS SEVERE HEALTH RISKS AT VERY LOW LEVELS, HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE CARCINOGENIC IN SEVERAL INSTANCES AND A CLASS OF THESE MATERIALS (CFCS IN PARTICULAR) ARE AT THE CENTER OF OZONE DEPLETION CHEMISTRY AND THE SUBJECT OF RECENT CONTROL UNDER THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL. AT PRESENT, THESE IS NO CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING (CEM) TECHNIQUE OR INSTRUMENTATION TO RELIABLY MONITOR EMISSIONS OF THESE HALOGENATED MATERIALS AT THE THOUSANDS OF SITES AT WHICH THEY MAY BE RELEASED IN THE UNITED STATES (AND IN FACT, WORLDWIDE). WITHOUT THIS CEM CAPABILITY, MINIMIZATION OF EMISSION OF THESE DANGEROUS POLLUTANTS AND OPTIMIZATION OF CONTROL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE TO ASSURE CONTINUED EMISSION MINIMUMS CANNOT BE A REALITY. THE PHASE I PROPSAL PRESENTS AN INNOVATIVE SPECTROMETRIC CONCEPT WHICH WILL BE IDEAL FOR THE CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC HALOGENATED COMPOUND EMISSIONS FROM ALL SOURCES. THE CONCEPT IS BASED ON THE USE OF A MICROWAVE PLASMA EMISSION INSTRUMENT, WELL SUITED FOR CONTINUOUS ON-SITE OPERATION AS A CEM, WHICH WILL RESPOND TO ALL OF THE HALOGEN SPECIES AT CONCENTRATIONS EXTENDING DOWN TO TRACE LEVELS. THE RESULTS OF THE SUCCESSFUL PHASE I EFFORT WILL LEAD DIRECTLY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE MONITOR IN PHASE II AND TO ON-SITE TESTING OF THIS INSTRUMENT AT ACTUAL FIELD SITES DURING THAT PROJECT STAGE.