Page 466 - Air pollution and greenhouse gases from basic concepts to engineering applications for air emission control

Chapter 15
Air Monitoring

As mentioned in Chap. 1, there are two approaches to implement the air emission
standards. One is best technology approach and another is air emission monitoring.
Air emission monitoring from a source is also referred to as source test, which
provides technical information for judging the relative importance of a given source
contribution of pollutants. It is also a measure to determine whether a pollution
control device installed is working effectively as expected. Sometimes, the analysis
of sources of air emissions, such as boilers, incinerators, and diesel engines, also
provides complementary information to their energy efficiencies. After all, energy
production and the environmental pollution are closely related. The source test
results are used in the design and tuning of control methods as well as a legal tool in
the case of a violation of an air pollution control regulation.
It is unusual to take only one sample and make a claim because it is solely by
luck one can achieve this goal. Actual engineering applications are much more
complicated. In order to obtain this accurate information, multiple samples and
measurements must be taken followed by engineering statistical analysis to quantify
both emission rates and their uncertainties.
Reference Methods have been developed by government agencies or profes-
sional societies to guide these practices. In the United States, for example, all
reference methods for stationary source tests are available to the public for free on
the web site of Emission Measurement Center (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/emc/).
These Reference Methods specify the procedures and certified equipment for
measuring the constituents of emissions. They also describe the principles, appli-
cability, and presentation of the test results.

15.1 Flow Rate and Velocity Measurement

There are a number of flow rate measurement technologies and related instruments;
one of them is Pitot tube, named after Henri Pitot in 1732. It is widely used in
engineering practices because of its simplicity, accuracy, reliability, and cost-
effectiveness.

© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2014 447
Z. Tan, Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases, Green Energy and Technology,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-212-8_15