Monitoring of Total Suspended Particles & Toxic Gasses in Stationary Combustion Systems

A number of unaccounted combustion systems have been operated island wide to meet various power demands such as electricity generation, product manufacturing, process applications etc. Such systems differ from each other according to the types of combustion, types of fuel used, capacity etc. Whether the processing plant/system is small or large, it requires to burn different kinds of fuels to obtain driving forces. Widely used fuels in the country for these types of combustion systems are coal, heavy oil, light oil, LP gas, fire wood, bagas, bio gas etc.

All combustion systems emit solid waste (e.g. Ash, Charcoal etc.), gaseous waste (e.g. Suspended particles, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide etc) and waste heat (conduction, convection, radiation etc) as by products during the fuel combustion. Monitoring of such gaseous waste is more difficult than monitoring of solid wastes and waste heat.

There are standard flue gas emission control systems inbuilt with large capacity combustion systems such as electricity generation plants, paper/ sugar industries etc. Also, standard monitoring levels are published by reputed organizations and authorities. However, when renewing the license for setting up a new plant, especially in the Small & Medium Industries (SMI) it is essential to prove that their combustion systems are operated under the standard level (i.e. environmental friendly manner). But most of the owners ; especially SMI holders, have met with difficulties to get the required environmental certificates due to lack of awareness, non availability of measuring facilities / control mechanisms of old (existing) combustion systems and non availability of reference standards (for small combustion systems) etc.

Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the widely used combustion systems in small & medium industries, common flue gas emission parameters, proposed and applicable environmental standards, sample locations and pre facility required for monitoring.