In Situ Electrostatic Separation of Ambient PM2.5 into Source-Specific Fractions During Collection in a FRM Sampler
Coal combustion is generally viewed as a major source of PM2.5 emissions into the atmosphere. For some time, toxicologists have been asking for an exposure environment enriched with the coal combustion source specific PM{sub 2.5} to conduct meaningful exposure studies to better understand the mechanisms of the adverse health effects of coal combustion specific PM2.5 in the ambient environment. There are several unique characteristics of primary PM generated from coal combustion. In this research project, an attempt has been made to exploit some of the unique properties of PM generated from coal fired power plants to preferentially separate them out from the rest of the primary and secondary PM in the ambient environment. An existing FRM sampler used for monitoring amount of PM{sub 2.5} in the ambient air is modified to incorporate an electrostatic field. A DC corona charging device is also installed at the ambient air inlet to impart positive or negative charge to the PM. Visual Basic software has been written to simulate the lateral movement of PM as it passes through the electrostatic separator under varying operating conditions. The PM samples collected on polycarbonate filters under varying operating conditions were extensively observed for clustering and/or separation of PM in the direction parallel to the electric field. No systematic PM separation was observed under any of the operating conditions. A solution to overcome this kind of turbulence caused remixing has been offered. However, due to major programmatic changes in the DOE UCR program, there are no venues available to further pursue this research.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG26-05NT42543
- OSTI ID:
- 899901
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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