Laser Measurement of Flue Gas Constituents in a Fossil Fuel-Burning Power Plant

Abstract

Measurement of flue gas constituents in fossil fuel-burning power plants is necessary for prevention of corrosion damage to plant machinery and for environmental protection. Optical measurement techniques for continuous monitoring of NO_x and SO₂ have been well-estabilished, but monitoring of SO₃ still relies on sampling and chemical analysis. Since SO₃ forms sulfuric acid upon reaction with water vapor and causes corrosion damage, its continuous, real-time monitoring is of importance. This paper provides a review of optical SO3 measurement techniques, and presents some experimental results on spectrally resolved measurement of SO₂ and SO₃ using Raman scattering.