ADVANCED CONCEPT FOR WASTE GAS POLLUTION CONTROL

AIR POLLUTION IS A MAJOR NATIONAL PROBLEM. STACK GAS EMISSIONS FROM POWER PLANTS AND INCINERATORS CAUSE ACID RAIN, WHICH DECIMATES FORESTS AND CROPS, AND THE RELEASE OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE GASES CAUSE AN ARRAY OF HEALTH PROBLEMS. AN ELECTRON BEAM PROCESS HAS BEEN DEVELOPED, PRIMARILY IN JAPAN, WHICH IS EFFECTIVE IN SIMULTANEOUSLY REDUCING THE CONCENTRATION OF NOX AND SOX IN FLUE GASES. A SIMILAR PROCESS ALSO APPEARS ATTRACTIVE FOR REDUCING THE EMISSIONS OF VOLATILE ORGANIC HYDROCARBONS. HOWEVER, THESE PROCESSES REQUIRE LARGE AMOUNTS OF POWER AND MASSIVE BEAM GENERATORS. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ELECTRON BEAM PROCESS CAN BE INCREASED GREATLY BY APPLYING AN ELECTRIC FIELD IN THE INTERACTION VOLUME SO THAT AN ELECTRON BEAM-SUSTAINED DISCHARGE IS FORMED. AN EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE THIS NEW CONCEPT FOR A VARIETY OF POLLUTANTS WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICS/CHEMISTRY OF THIS TYPE OF INTERACTION AND HOW TO MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF IT. INITIAL FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENTS WILL BE DEVELOPED IN PHASE IBY: (1) PERFORMING EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ELECTRON BEAM-SUSTAINED DISCHARGE OPERATING IN CONTAMINATED AIR MIXTURES; (2) UNDERTAKING THEORETICAL STUDIES TO IDENTIFY THE PRIMARY CHEMICAL MECHANISMS WHICH CAN LEAD TO EFFICIENT OPERATION AND (3) DEVELOPING THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR A PHASE II PROCESS DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT. IF SUCCESSFUL, PHASE I AND II WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR A NEW AND HIGHLY EFFECTIVE WASTE GAS TREATMENT PROCESS.