A Spectroscopy-Based, Online, Real-time Monitoring System with Integrated Machine Learning for Liquid Phase Selenium in Coal Power Plant Effluent Streams

For the foreseeable future, the energy needed to sustain economic growth will continue to come largely from hydrocarbon fuels. Improving the efficiency and environmental performance of advanced industrial and utility fossil energy power systems will allow the US to utilize indigenous fossil energy resources more wisely, cleanly, and efficiently. Of particular interest is the monitoring and removal of heavy metals from coal power plant wastewaters, such as selenium, mercury, and arsenic. For example, the amount and form of selenium in power plant wastewaters can vary depending upon fuel composition and/or control equipment operation, and the removal of selenium from power plant wastewaters using conventional means can be problematic in many instances. Thus, there is a need for in-line, real-time monitoring of key heavy metals in power plant effluent streams to promote efficiency through optimizing chemical and energy inputs to the system and to reduce costs/errors associated with periodic sampling. The primary focus/need is for monitoring of selenium in the liquid-phase; however, technologies that that can also measure mercury and arsenic would be highly beneficial. Sporian Microsystems has previously developed inline, real-time, intelligent gas and liquid composition monitoring systems for the DOD, DOE, USDA, and EPA based on advanced spectroscopy concepts. While these hardware systems were built for different application systems with very different interface and installation requirements, in principle the technologies should be similarly useful for monitoring liquid phase selenium, mercury, and arsenic concentrations. Thus, the primary objective of the proposed effort is to leverage Sporian’s prior work to realize a spectroscopy- based, field-deployable, real-time monitoring system with integrated machine learning for primarily liquid phase selenium content in wastewater treatment processes, but potentially leveragable for monitoring mercury and arsenic. The phase I effort will include: 1) working with technical partners and industry stakeholders to define system requirements; 2) evaluating and defining hardware/electronics architectures and designs, 3) and proof-of-principle testing/demonstration using benchtop-scale prototype hardware. The proposed monitoring suite will quantify real-time heavy metal concentrations and phases, providing fossil fuel-sourced electric companies with a faster, more reliable, and less costly method for wastewater monitoring. Better techniques for Selenium mitigation along with additional cost savings, will provide consumers with cheaper and more sustainable energy sources, as well as provide safer water to both consumers and ecosystems. Similar benefits will be seen in industries such as mining, agricultural irrigation, and oil refining.