Air Clean-Up
dropped to low levels the abatement plant would still need to be kept running and this is often less economic. A reliable Honeycat Air Pollution Control System offers a catalytic oxidation solution that provides an expected efficiency of more than 99 percent and can be equipped with a superior performance catalyst to ensure environmental emission limits can be easily handled.
AirProtekt offers a total package air pollution service that embraces process assessment, project design, supply of the air pollution equipment, installation and commissioning.
The service is formulated to provide versatile technical solutions to abatement challenges and the engineering solutions are tailored to address specific local emission requirements but are also specified to comply with national and international regulations as well as detailed global company-specific guidelines or operational procedures.
An Example of a Catalytic Oxidation System in Action
A case in point was a solution created for a Medium Density Fibre board (MDF) processing plant in Russia. A Honeycat Catalytic Oxidation System was optimised for the abatement of phenol, formaldehyde and methanol vapours given off during the industrial resin manufacturing stage of the Russian plant’s MDF production process.
The complete catalytic oxidation equipment was built, tested and fresh air commissioned in the UK inside a dedicated ISO container before being shipped to the Russian site located near the Ural Mountains. Once there the abatement equipment was simply connected to the process plant. The catalytic oxidation system, which incorporates gas tight sealing to prevent localised emissions of formaldehydes, also features high efficiency ceramic insulation/fibre mats that are designed to significantly reduce heat losses and external surface temperatures.
The low process flowrates featured at the Russian MDF processing plant allow a compact oxidiser design to be used which can be built inside a standard ISO container complete with control and air conditioning systems. The ISO container-based system enables the equipment to be provided as an almost mobile application solution that can be easily moved from site to site. The solution has the added benefit of helping to minimise system running costs. A very low maintenance electrically pre-heated system was supplied which features low catalyst operating temperatures that result in a low thermal stress solution that extends operating life.
The Honeycat Catalytic Oxidation System was also specifically designed to enable quick start up to offer the processing plant the flexibility to run the air pollution control unit in conjunction with batch based production runs.
Another key aspect of the design of the Honeycat Air Pollution Control System was that it needed to withstand operating in very extreme ambient conditions that are faced in Russia. The system is capable of running at -50°C in the winter and +30°C in the summer. The system has an expected availability of over 99 percent. Although the processing plant was located in Russia, AirProtekt’s engineering team worked with engineers from a Finnish chemical company that was overseeing the overall project. Prior to shipping the system solution the Finnish engineering team visited the UK to commission and test all the equipment at AirProtekt’s facilities.
An Example of a Regenerative Thermal
Oxidation System in Action To illustrate that no two applications are the same, the solution to the air pollution challenges facing a Scottish carbon fibre plant called for a different oxidation technology to be applied. However, the application still shows how a flexible, tailored engineering solution can pay dividends irrespective of the pollutants that are being treated.
To remove a varied array of contaminants from the carbon fibre manufacturing facility in Northern Scotland, AirProtekt installed and commissioned a combined Regenerative Thermal Oxidation (RTO) system and a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system. The contaminants included oxides of nitrogen and other gaseous contaminants, such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN).
The Scottish manufacturing site, which is a subsidiary of a German processor, produces carbon fibre for use in a variety of engineering applications including items such as wind power turbine blades, computer hard disks, aircraft and car brakes which are exported to 27 countries around the world.
As part of a major multi million pound investment the carbon fibre manufacturer upgraded the production capacity of its Scottish carbon fibre manufacturing facility with the addition of two new production lines. To assist in handling the additional emissions, including fugitives from the upgraded facility, a third Regenerative Thermal Oxidation (RTO) system was deployed at the site in combination with a new Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system. The principal purpose of the new combined system was to treat and remove pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and hydrogen cyanide.
The carbon fibre manufacturing plant uses Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a raw material in the form of long lengths (tows) of carbon fibre. The tows are heated by passing through a series of electric or gas ovens and furnaces.
The first stage of heating in ovens to 250°C in the presence of air produces oxidised Polyacrylonitrile
or Panox, which is sold as an oxidised fibre product. The Panox can be further heated within low temperature (LT) and high temperature (HT) furnaces to 1500°C, in the absence of air to produce carbon fibres for use in various engineering applications.
The chemical reactions during the heating process generate exhaust gases of oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The exhaust gases are extracted using Regenerative Thermal Oxidation (RTO) systems that reduce the levels of the contaminants prior to discharge through stacks, which are the main sources of emissions from the carbon fibre manufacturing process. The new, combined RTO and SCR system was developed, engineered and installed by AirProtekt and Lufttechnik Bayreuth (LTB) to offer increased flexibility and free capacity on one of the older RTO systems, improving the capture of fugitive gases from one of the manufacturing units, and helping to address overall control of the release of odorous emissions from the facility.
The engineering team ensured application flexibility by tailoring the combined RTO and SCR system to comply with the carbon fibre manufacturer’s specific emission regulation requirements. The solution was required to allow the facility to comply with the emission limit values specified in its operating permit granted by the local environmental authority.
$40 Billion Market for Air Pollution Control Products in 2011 Product Type
Fabric Filter FGD (Power)
Scrubber/adsorber (non power) CEMS
NOx Control
Electrostatic precipitator Thermal/catalytic Total
Asia World 6.1 2.8 2.9 0.5 4.4 5.4 0.8
10.5 7.1 6.2 0.9 8.3 6.9 2
22.9 41.9
% Asia 58 39 47 55 53 78 40 55
Just under $42 billion will be invested in equipment to reduce air pollution this year. Fifty five percent of that investment will be in Asia. This forecast appears in the McIlvaine Air Pollution Management report. 2011 World Air Pollution Control Market ($ Billions
The expansion of basic industries such as mining, chemical, steel and refining in Asia will result in major purchases of fabric filters, scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators and continuous emissions monitors (CEMS). The expansion of general manufacturing will result in additional investments in thermal oxidisers and adsorbers.
Coal-fired power plants account for more air pollution control purchases than the other industries combined. The flue gas desulphurisation system purchases for power plants of $7.1 billion will be larger than the combined scrubber, adsorber, and biofilter purchases
by other industries ($6.2 billion). Ninety percent of the $8.3 billion to be spent on NOx control will be spent by electricity generators. China will be the leading purchaser as it equips its new coal plants with selective catalytic reduction systems.
Coal-fired power plants will also purchase 90 percent of the $6.9 billion of electrostatic precipitator equipment and parts in 2011. China will be both the leading purchaser and supplier. It will purchase more electrostatic precipitators than the rest of the world combined. It is already the world’s largest operator of precipitators.
Asia will purchase 58 percent of the fabric filters and bags in 2011. One reason is the high concentration of cement and steel plants in Asia. China produces more than half of the world’s cement. Steel plants use fabric filters to capture the furnace emissions. While Europe
and the U.S. have operated continuous emissions monitors on stacks for decades, much of developing Asia is in the process of installing these monitors.
Asia is also the leading purchaser of air pollution control equipment for high technology manufacturing such as solar panels, semiconductors, memory storage and flat panel displays. These plants use thermal oxidisers to eliminate toxic organic emissions. They use carbon adsorbers and scrubbers to capture acid gases and volatile organic compounds.
Asia is also a leader in the use of air pollution control devices to reduce odours. Japan has the highest odour control investment as a percentage of total investment. Wastewater treatment plant operators throughout Asia are reacting to neighbourhood odour complaints with investments in scrubbers and adsorbers.
Reader Reply Card No 53
www.pollutionsolutions-online.com • February / March 2011
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