Effects of air pollution control devices on volatile organic compounds reduction in coal-fired power plants

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2021-08, Vol.782, p.146828, Article 146828
• Main Authors: Sun, Shurui, Liu, Wenbin, Guan, Weisheng, Zhu, Shuai, Jia, Jing, Wu, Xiaolin, Lei, Rongrong, Jia, Tianqi, He, Yunchen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution control devices; Coal-fired power plant; Emission factor; Ozone formation potential; VOCs
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146828

Air pollution control devices (APCDs) have been fitted to many coal-fired power plants to decrease the impacts of pollutants generated during coal combustion. APCDs remove conventional pollutants but also decrease volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. In this study, flue gas samples were collected from different points in seven typical coal-fired power and two industrial boilers, and the VOC concentrations in the flue gas samples were determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems and electrostatic precipitators (ESP) can synergistically remove VOCs, the mean removal rate of VOCs by ESP was 42% ± 9%. This was caused by the catalyst in SCR systems and the condensation process in the ESP. Wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) affected different VOCs in different ways, increasing the halogenated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations but decreasing the oxygenated VOCs concentrations by 12%. Wet electrostatic precipitators (WESP) increased VOC emissions. By calculating Ozone formation potential (OFP), aromatic hydrocarbons are important contributors to ozone production. The emission factor of the power plant was 0.69 g/GJ, and the Chinese annual emission was about 1.2 × 104 t. VOCs emissions in different regions were affected by factors such as the economy and population. VOC emissions can be decreased by using the most appropriate unit load and improving the VOC removal efficiencies of the APCDs. [Display omitted] •65 kinds of VOCs were detected from the coal-fired power plants with different loads.•The effect of different APCDs on VOC concentrations was studied.•Aromatic hydrocarbons contribute the most to the generation of ozone.•Emission factor was calculated to evaluate VOC emissions by thermal power generation.