Results of the September 1997 DOE/EPA demonstration of multimetal continuous emission monitoring technologies

In September 1997, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environment al Protection Agency (EPA) co-sponsored a demonstration of several multimet al continuous emission monitors (CEMs). The demonstration, performed at the EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division's combustion laboratory in Research Triangle Park, NC , involved the side-by-side testing of seven multimetal CEMs at various sta ges of commercialization. A series of tests were performed to compare resul ts from the multimetal CEMs to Method 0060, the EPA reference method (RM) f or metals emission measurements, using the relative accuracy test audit (RA TA) protocol. The EPA operated the test facility and performed the RM sampl ing, and each multimetal CEM was operated by the instrument's respective de veloper. To accomplish these tests, an aqueous solution of six toxic metals (arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury), along with fly ash from a coal-fired utility boiler, was injected into the afterburner of the EPAs rotary kiln incinerator simulator facility to generate a combustor flue gas with realistic post-flue gas cleaning system particulate loadings and target metals concentrations of approximately 15 and 75 mu g/m(3), whi ch constituted the low and high concentration test conditions. The multimet al CEMs that participated in the test included two laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) systems, two inductively coupled plasma (ICP) systems, a spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SIBS) system, a hazardous element s ampling train with X-ray fluorescence (HEST/XRF), and a microwave plasma sy stem. Ten RM-CEM sample pairs were taken at both the low and high concentra tion test conditions, and the relative accuracies of the multimetal CEMs we re calculated. This test provided performance data that will be used to ass ess the current state of the art in multimetal CEMs. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.