13 – GAS-CLEANING TECHNOLOGY

This chapter describes the fundamentals of gas cleaning technology in branches of removal of particulates and gaseous compounds. This chapter also includes the fundamentals of particulate and gaseous measurements technology. Gas-cleaning technology deals with all types gases, from air to flue gases and process gases. While process and equipment modification are generally the preferred alternatives for reducing emissions from a plant, some form of control is necessary before emissions are discharged into the environment. Thermal and catalytic incinerators, condensers, and adsorbers are the most common methods of abatement used, due to their ability to deal with a wide variety of emissions of organic compounds. Many industrial operations produce fumes that affect both the indoor environment and the outdoor environment. The gas stream containing the fume is usually of high temperature and contains combustibles. The combustibles may form an explosive mixture, thus necessitating specialized design inputs for most fume control ventilation systems. Emissions monitoring is essential in controlling industrial environments and processes to ensure good air quality standards are maintained. In industry, many process streams are involved in the gas phase. The reasons for measuring these streams are process optimization, mandated regulatory information, analyzer application development, and identification of process or effluent abnormalities.