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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Electrostatic precipitators versus fabric filters: Fact versus Fiction

Conference ·
OSTI ID:81136
;  [1]
  1. Environmental Elements Corporation, Baltimore, MD (United States)
There are provisions within the revised Clean Air Act of 1990 for control of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from as many as 700 major source categories. In many of these categories: refineries, recovery boiler emissions, oil and coal fired boilers, municipal and hazardous waste incinerators, for example, most of the HAPs are resident as particulates. Compounds of arsenic, nickel, lead, zinc, chromium, manganese, vanadium and cadmium are some of the most applicable trace elements included in the list of 189 chemicals targeted for control, and these reside mostly as particulate matter from these sources. Exceptions to this rule are many condensible organics, selenium and mercury, which are largely emitted in the vapor form at stack gas temperatures. For the most part and for many sources, the prevailing view is that particulates are surrogates for trace elements, and tighter control of particulate emissions is the surest way to achieve major reduction in HAP emissions.
OSTI ID:
81136
Report Number(s):
CONF-9403213--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English