title: PAH emissions from coal combustion and waste incineration.
abstract: The characteristics of PAHs that are emitted by a municipal waste incinerator (MWI) and coal-fired power plant are examined via intensive sampling. Results of flue gas sampling reveal the potential for PAH formation within the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system of a coal-fired power plant. In the large-scale MWI, the removal efficiency of PAHs achieved with the pilot-scaled catalytic filter (CF) exceeds that achieved by activated carbon injection with a bag filter (ACI+BF) owing to the effective destruction of gas-phase contaminants by a catalyst. A significantly lower PAH concentration (1640ng/g) was measured in fly ash from a CF module than from an ACI+BF system (5650ng/g). Replacing the ACI+BF system with CF technology would significantly reduce the discharge factor (including emission and fly ash) of PAHs from 251.6 to 77.8mg/ton-waste. The emission factors of PAHs that are obtained using ACI+BF and the CF system in the MWI are 8.05 and 7.13mg/ton, respectively. However, the emission factor of MWI is significantly higher than that of coal-fired power plant (1.56mg/ton). From the perspective of total environmental management to reduce PAH emissions, replacing the original ACI+BF process with a CF system is expected to reduce environmental impact thereof.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, 300 Jhong-da Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, 300 Jhong-da Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei Chen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, 300 Jhong-da Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pao Chen
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, 300 Jhong-da Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shu Hao
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, 300 Jhong-da Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan. Electronic address: mbchang@ncuen.ncu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Moo Been
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Chang
keywords: Activated carbon adsorption; Catalytic filter; Coal-fired power plant; Municipal waste incinerator; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons