Oxidation, or combustion as it pertains to the air pollution control industry, can simply be defined as a rapid combination of oxygen with a fuel (in this case, a volatile organic compound, or VOC). This process will result in the release of energy in the form of heat and, if completed correctly in our world, the process will also release carbon dioxide and water. 

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is a term used in the air pollution control industry for the process of  selectively targeting a pollutant to remove that pollutant from an exhaust stream. The most common pollutant that is controlled through a SCR process is nitrogen oxide (NOx). While there are many catalysts that can selectively target a number of compounds, the content of this blog will focus on SCR technologies for the reduction of NOx. 

Any facility operator that consumes significant amounts of natural gas should understand the basics of heat recovery. Here at Catalytic Products International (CPI), we find ourselves engaged in energy conservation discussions with our existing and prospective customers several times each week. We felt that “Heat Recovery 101” may be a useful tool to help our readers fully understand some of the basics and economics about heat recovery solutions.

There are hundreds of types of catalyst products at work in the world today. This series will focus only on the use of precious metal catalysts used in air pollution control systems. The most traditional air pollution control device that employs a precious metal catalyst is a Catalytic Oxidizer. Although catalysts have been used in Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers as a means to lower the operating temperature and reduce natural gas consumption, they can also be installed in a catalytic reactor or catalyst bed where the pollutants are found in a pre-heated exhaust stream.

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develops new control technique guidelines, the definition of the RACT (Reasonably Available Control Technology) standards changes on a state level. 

Accurate measurement of airflow is a key part of properly sizing and selecting a new air pollution control device such as a thermal or catalytic oxidizer. Ongoing maintenance of existing thermal oxidizer’s should also include periodic air flow measurements. Usually, airflow measurement is a straightforward exercise, but special situations sometime occur that require alternatives. In this blog, we'll discuss the basics of airflow measurement and how to handle some problematic conditions.

Air quality regulation starts with National Ambient Air Quality Standards, more commonly known by the abbreviation NAAQS. The NAAQS represent the maximum concentration of each regulated pollutant that can be present in the air we breathe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Each maximum concentration is chosen to fulfill the EPA’s mandate to protect human health and the environment. 

Recently, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) funded a report that looks to gather information regarding explosions in ovens, furnaces, and dryers. The report was prepared by Sreenivasan Ranganathan and Sean Gillis of the Fire Protection Research Foundation. The report is important work that will be used by the NFPA technical committee during review of the upcoming code revisions.

Many pollutants, both natural and synthetic, are gaseous in nature and require specific technology to effectively remove the pollutant from an exhaust or process gas stream. Gaseous industrial pollutants can include:  

A Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) is an air pollution control device that is designed to destroy VOC, HAP, and odorous compounds in order to meet air pollution control regulations.  RTOs can be used in small applications (4,000 scfm) to large ones (+100,000 scfm). There are many manufactures of RTOs with a wide variety of media, valves, and overall designs. While there are a lot of differences among the RTOs, one thing is true no matter which system you have installed in your plant: your RTO needs maintenance.