Acrolein and Other Volatile Organic Emissions from the Combustion of Crude Glycerol
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Acrolein and Other Volatile Organic Emissions from the Combustion of Crude Glycerol Scott A. Steinmetz1, Jason S. Herrington2, Chris Winterrowd3, Daniel Janek3, William L. Roberts1, Jost O.L. Wendt4 and William P. Linak2 1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695 USA 2Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division National Risk Management Research Laboratory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 USA 3ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller, Inc. Durham, NC 27709 USA 4Department of Chemical Engineering University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Introduction • Crude glycerol • Acrolein • Experimental Setup • Results • Future Work • Conclusions Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Crude Glycerol • By-product of bio-diesel production • Composition varies – Triglyceride feedstock, alcohol, catalyst, acid – Methylated - 22.4 MJ/kg • 20% glycerol, 69% methanol, 11% MONG – Demethylated - 26.8 MJ/kg • 66% glycerol, 34% MONG – Pure - 16 MJ/kg • Challenging to burn • Previous work (Bohon et. al.) has shown crude glycerol can be effectively combusted in high swirl refractory-lined furnace Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Acrolein • Stigma associated with glycerol combustion • Toxic, acrid odor (grease fire) • Eye and throat irritation at 100 ppb • Lethal at ppm level – Chemical weapon during WWI • Glycerol decomposes into acrolein at 280 C Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Acrolein Measurement • Routinely measured ambiently by derivatization and HPLC analysis (DNPH, DNSH, CNET) – Impinger trains or solid sorbents – Acrolein reacts with DNPH – Acrolein – hydrazone detectable by HPLC • Unsaturated aldehyde derivatization techniques can be inaccurate in sources – Presence of NOx – Further derivatization – PM and water • Reliable methods of measuring acrolein in sources are under development Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Method Evaluation • Modified CARB 430 w/ toluene – Ashland Chemical Company – Based on method CARB 430 • 2 x 10 mL DNPH impingers • Silica gel impinger • HPLC – UV analysis – 2 mL toluene added to DNPH solution for in-situ derivative extraction – 95% recoveries by Ashland – Tested with acrolein spiked nitrogen – ~30% recoveries observed Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Method Evaluation • Stack gas collected in tedlar bags – Dried stack gas collected in tedlar (pvf) bags – GC – FID analysis – N.D. at 0.5 ppm limit • GC – MS analysis of stack gas collected in SUMMA cans – Diluted stack gas pulled into SUMMA cans – GC – MS analysis (TO-15) – Low ppt detection limit for acrolein and other VOCs (varies with compound) – Has been used for ambient detection Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Experimental Setup • IFRF movable block swirler • Preheat furnace with natural gas • Furnace conditions monitored with CEMs – O2 – CO2 – CO – THC – NOx • Burner and stack temperature • Stack gas collected far downstream from burner Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Experimental Setup Experimental Conditions Natural Methylated Demethylated Pure Units Gas Glycerol Glycerol Glycerol Fuel Flowrate LPM 108 0.104 0.142 0.272 Air Flowrate SLPM 1560 863 1144 1312 Equivalence Ratio 0.79 0.65 0.81 0.73 Power Output kW 67.0 38.8 62.0 100.6 • 4 fuels – Natural gas, methylated, demethylated, pure glycerol • Constant equivalence ratio and power level desired – Fuel feel issues led to variation • Viscosity, ash content – Equivalence ratio determined from fuel flow rate and excess O2 in exhaust • Swirl = 1.8 Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Experimental Setup • Dynamically diluted with nitrogen at sampling probe tip to prevent condensation – Dilution ratio calculated from average NOx measurements before and after dilution • Spiking performed before sampling using acrolein permeation device – 0.5 L standard air with 100 ppb acrolein – Also humidified to aid recovery • 3 pairs of samples for each fuel • 1 field spike per fuel Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Experimental Setup • Ran parallel sampling trains – One spiked can (4.5 standard L) – One non-spiked can (5 STDL) – Spike recoveries determined by the difference in concentration • Heated filters in line to limit PM into cans – Heated to prevent condensation • Flow rate controlled with needle valves • Monitored SUMMA can pressure to determine fill level • 20 min. runs Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Results Experimental Conditions and Results Natural Methylated Demethylated Pure Units Gas Glycerol Glycerol Glycerol Fuel Flowrate LPM 108 0.104 0.142 0.272 Air Flowrate SLPM 1560 863 1144 1312 Equivalence Ratio 0.79 0.65 0.81 0.73 Power Output kW 67 39 62 101 Stack O2 % 4.8 7.6 4.2 5.4 Stack CO2 % 9.6 9.2 13.7 14.8 Stack CO ppm 20.6 30.5 321.5 16.7 Stack CO at 0% O2 ppm 26.7 47.8 401.8 22.5 Stack NOx ppm 111.9 44.5 118.9 83.5 Stack NOx at 0% O2 ppm 145.0 69.7 148.6 112.4 Stack HC ppm 9.7 9.7 9.1 17.3 Stack HC at 0% O2 ppm 12.6 15.2 11.4 23.3 Stack Temperature C 518 440 605 751 Burner Temperature C 1072 994 1066 1045 Spike Recovery % 172 96 142 140 Stack Acrolein ppb 13.9 13.2 12.1 29.3 Stack Acrolein at 0% O2 ppb 18.0 20.7 15.1 39.4 Standard Error ppb 1.8 6.7 1.8 1.4 Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Results • Spike recoveries between 96 and 172% – Spikes were ~1 order of magnitude higher than sample concentrations – Permeation rate can vary by 10% – Field spikes indicate spiking method is source of variation • Indicates it is worth pursuing method further – Several improvements can be made • Acrolein emission slightly higher in pure glycerol, but similar in all four fuels Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Results Average Stack Concentrations (ppb) • TO-15 also allows the Natural Methylated Demethylated Pure Gas Glycerol Glycerol Glycerol detection of 81 other Alcohols Ethanol 21.5 191.7 173.0 260.7 compounds Isopropyl Alcohol 64.2 95.1 82.5 118.6 Tert-Butanol 4.5 6.9 2.1 6.6 Ketones • With the exception of Acetone 184.0 187.1 184.4 266.0 2-Hexanone 4.2 35.3 49.4 80.4 ethanol, acetone, 2-Butanone 15.2 25.1 22.8 38.4 4-Methy-2-Pentanone 1.9 1.9 9.8 34.9 and IPA, none of Cyclic Compounds Cyclohexane 2.6 36.3 54.9 91.4 these compounds Styrene 1.7 20.8 30.5 49.2 Toluene 2.7 15.9 20.6 38.5 detected in 1,4-Dioxane 2.3 16.3 21.8 36.7 m-Xylene 1.4 7.5 14.3 29.7 concentrations higher Tetrahydrofuran 3.1 10.4 13.3 21.4 p-Xylene 1.2 3.6 8.7 21.2 than 100 ppb in any Benzene 1.7 5.2 11.9 13.1 Ethylbenzene 0.6 3.6 6.6 12.8 fuel o-Xylene 0.5 1.1 2.8 8.3 Chlorobenzene 0.3 1.1 2.4 4.7 Naphthalene 0.2 0.3 Below Below Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Future Experiments • Improved Spiking – More similar to expected concentrations – Acrolein standard • Improved Sampling – SilTek coated SUMMA cans – Constant sampling rate – Better controlled combustion – Determine effect of PM filters Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Conclusion • Acrolein detection in sources utilizing TO-15 is possible • Acrolein emission from glycerol combustion comparable to that of natural gas • Presence of large amounts of other VOCs was not found in any fuel • Pure glycerol emissions consistently higher, most likely due to power level Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Acknowledgements • This project is being funded by the NCSU/EPA Cooperative Training Program in Environmental Sciences Research, Training Agreement CT833235-01-0 with North Carolina State University Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Thank you Questions? Fall Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute, Oct 9-12, 2011 Natural Methylated Demethylated Pure Gas Glycerin Glycerin Glycerin 1,1,1,2-Tetrachloroethane Below Below Below Below 1,1,1-Trichloroethane 0.6 0.4 8.4 4.1 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane 0.5 4.2 5.8 9.4 1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-... 1.3 2.2 3.1 7.7 1,1,2-Trichloroethane 0.9 11.3 16.6 26.6 1,1-Dichloroethane 0.4 2.2 3.2 5.0 1,1-Dichloroethene 5.5 2.9 14.0 11.8 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene Below Below Below Below 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene Below Below Below Below 1,2-Dibromoethane 1.5 Below 15.4 45.2 1,2-Dichlorobenzene Below Below Below Below 1,2-Dichloroethane 0.4 4.4 3.5 N.D.