ICE FOG ABATEMENT AND POLLUTION REDUCTION AT A SUBARCTIC COAL-FIRED HEATING PLANT

• Main Authors: L.E. Leonard, R. Seifert, J. Zarling, R. Johnson
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Fairbanks; Porteous; The Muzzle; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://oaspub.epa.gov/eims/eimsapi.dispdetail?deid=37423

An experimental cooler-condenser system was constructed at the coal-fired heating and electric plant on the Fairbanks campus of the University of Alaska to evaluate its potential to reduce ice fog and other pollutant stack emissions in a subarctic environment. This experiment advanced the work began by Porteous and Wallis (1965) to a stage of field evaluation for a less than full scale system. Flue gas was diverted from the existing power plant stack through the experimental system for test purposes. A cold water spray was directed into the muzzle of the experimental stack counter-current to the direction of flue gas flow to cool the gas, condense combustion-produced water vapor and scrub the gas stream of potential pollutants before they were released to the atmosphere. Because of several factors, the system at this stage of development proved ineffective for its main function of ice fog reduction. Some of the problems could be prevented by changes in the design of the system and some remain inconclusive and not well understood. Results show that the scrubbing function was more successful. Environmental considerations such as process water treatment and disposal presented no major obstacles, however, the potential to recover waste from the system does not appear favorable.