Passive Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) monitoring of SO2 in smokestack plumes: a comparison of remote passive spectra of an actual hot plume with emission spectra collected with a heatable cell

摘要

In the interest of developing practical methodologies for remote passive FT-IR analysis of sulfur dioxide in heated smoke stack plumes, IR spectra have been collected in a number of relevant experiments. Field data includes passive remote FT-IR spectra collected at a coal-burning power plant for which plume conditions were characterized by in-stack continuous emission monitors (CEMs), spectra collected of a controlled plume from a model spectrometer, into which controlled levels of sulfur dioxide could be introduced while the spectrometer viewed sky backgrounds similar to those behind the actual power plant plume. An extensive spectral data set has also been collected in the laboratory under controlled target and background conditions using a heated cell. Typical spectra are presented and the potential for characterizing many of the important factors involved in remote passive FT-IR analyses through controlled-condition experiments such as these is discussed.