Determination of Pollutants from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) Combustion in Power Plants

Carbon deposits highly contaminated by acids (32.8 wt. % on H₂SO₄ basis), and poly nuclear aromatics (PNAs; 707 ppm) accumulate and need periodical removal from a power station chimney. Heavy fuel oil (HFO) is used as the main fuel.

SO₃ (115.7±15.4 mg/m³), SO₂ (317.5±91.3 mg/m³), and NO (88.2±75.2 mg/m³) in flue gases were determined. HFO consumption was 10.5 m³.h^-1 and air flow rate in the burner was 140x10³ m³.h^-1 

Heavy metals (ppm) Cr: 271.7±2.5, 386.9±15.4, and <0.05

• Mn: 853.6±51.1, 544.9±39.0, and <0.06
• Ni: 9278.3±567.1, 69.4±7.9, and 3.18±1.7
• Zn: 327±2.0, 182.5±4.9, and 0.73±0.1
• V: 7956.1±1916.5, 189.3±43.1, and 1.45±0.80
• Fe (%): 28, 0.92, and <0.04 ; in carbon deposits, fire-brick linings, and HFO, respectively, were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Other heavy metals, namely Cd, Cu, and Pb, were also determined. Polynuclear aromatics PNA's in CH₂Cl₂ extracts from carbon deposits were estimated by capillary gas chromatography.