CEM India - Abstract

Abstract Information :

Particulate matter (PM) monitoring continues to grow as a compliance monitoring requirement around the world, but it is also being used as a process tool. B3 Systems has participated in over 100 PM monitoring test programs. These programs include both wet and dry scrubber system as well as systems controlled by baghouses and ESPs. The knowledge of these programs has led us to the conclusion that monitoring for PM is completely different than gas monitoring and requires a certain amount of planning before the monitor is actually purchased and installed to insure you will be getting representative results. Over the years it has been said that really small PM "acts" like a gas. This paper will present information to shows that PM never acts like a gas.

Through the combination of knowledge from previous employments, where solids were produced and handled, and what we at B3 Systems were observing almost weekly at numerous PM CEMS applications, we started developing questions about what we were observing.

Why were large percentages (>80%) of PM showing up in the probe of them annual sampling methods?

Why were some PM monitors response changing with load or production changes?

These questions led to the realization that PM being transported through ducts, out stack and even the manual sampling methods is just simply lean-phase pneumatic transport. To explain some of the answers to our questions and to help end-users understand the care need for good PM monitoring, this paper will present information from several detailed research papers on PM transport. We will also provide results from some in-house testing since no large scale testing has been completed at the time of this writing.
We will also include results from other PM monitoring applications in the USA so show that it is important to conduct testing under elevated PM conditions to get proper analyzer response curves.