Monitoring of exhaust gas parameters of stationary combustion systems In view of environmental standards

During the last few years, fossil fuel consumption for electricity generation and industrial process activities has gradually increased with the rapid development of energy and industrial sectors in Sri Lanka. When the fuel consumption increases, the relative quantities of emissions released to the environment too will increase. Such types of common emissions are toxic gases (Pb, Cl₂), noxious gases (SO_x, NO_x), green house gases (CO₂, O₃), unburned gases (CO, C_xH_y), volatiles and respirable particles. Those emissions will harmfully affect, in different ways, the human health and the environment. The regulatory bodies have actively monitored the industrial emissions by implementing & amending old inactivated policies, regulations and standards. As a result of such implementations, under the “Section 32 of National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980” as amended by Acts 56 of 1988 and 53 of 2000, the latest environmental standard for emission regulations for stationary combustion systems has emerged. In this regard, this paper aims to broadly discuss the experience gathered by the author in this area, in (view of) relation to? industrial impacts, instrumentations, pre facility requirement & resource availability and external interferences. Further the recommendations made in this paper for individual combustion systems, such as, thermal power plants, standby generators, industrial boilers & thermic fluid heaters, incinerators and cupola furnances, kilns etc. might be helpful to the regulatory bodies, industries, instruments & equipment suppliers and monitoring organizations in different ways when introducing (introduce) those emission standards to the industries. Finally, the outcomes of this study will help not only the local industries, but also Asian regional countries which have been operating similar combustion systems, to upgrade their systems to comply with particular environmental standards, because the proposed local standards have been prepared based on the other Asian and European regions’ environmental standards.

ENGINEER, Vol. 48, No.01, pp. 51-60, 2015