År 2000 startades ett samarbete mellan Wuhan i Kina och Borlänge Energi i Sverige. De två parterna bestämde år 2005 tillsammans med IVL, Svenska Miljöinstitutet, att samarbeta inom följande områden; hållbar energiproduktion, hållbar avfallsproduktion samt grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum i Wuhan. Miljöteknikcentrumet är till för att vara en plattform för svensk miljöteknik och expertis. Som ett första steg inför grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum gjordes en undersökning för att se inom vilka sektorer svensk miljöteknik kan etableras. Undersökningen var inriktat på industriell avloppsvattenrening i Wuhan; bedömning av vilka typer av industrier/företag som har problem med avloppsvattenreningen och i vilken utsträckning det finns svenska tekniklösningar på problemen. Undersökningen genomfördes genom intervjuer med myndigheter och en del utvalda företag. Det var svårt att få fram information om vilka företag som inte följer de kinesiska gränsvärdena, varför en del besök gjordes till företag som lever upp till gränsvärdena. På grund av detta togs även andra problem med miljön som företagen hade upp. Några kommunala reningsverk besöktes och intervjuades också för att få en bättre bild av den kommunala vattenreningssituationen. En generell beskrivning av Wuhans miljösituation utfördes också samt en beskrivning av de viktigaste miljömyndigheterna och institutionerna. Wuhans största utmaning är att konstruera reningsverk till alla de 3.5 miljoner som fortfarande släpper sitt avloppsvatten rätt ut till sjöar och floder, snarare än att ytterligare rena det industriella avloppsvattnet. Behandlingsgraden av det industriella avloppsvattnet har nått 97 % medan behandlingsgraden av det kommunala avloppsvattnet endast nått 70 %. Besök vid de utvalda företagen och kommunala reningsverk ledde till slutsatsen att svensk teknik och expertis kan införas i följande områden: hantering av slam från reningsverk, byggandet av förbränningsanläggningar för sopor och hur man löser problemet med att rena luften från gaser som SO2 och dioxiner. De flesta företagen kunde följa de kinesiska gränsvärdena för utsläpp av avloppsvatten men mycket kan göras för att förbättra företagens tekniker ytterligare. Detta utförs dock nästan aldrig eftersom det är en ekonomisk fråga. Det är möjligt för Wuhan att sätta lokala, hårdare gränsvärlden för att tvinga företagen att förbättra sina reningstekniker ytterligare. / In 2000 a co-operation between Wuhan in China and Borlänge Energi in Sweden started. The two parts decided in 2005 together with IVL, the Swedish Research Institute, to co-operate in the fields of sustainable energy production, sustainable waste management and the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre, supplying Swedish environmental expertise to companies in Wuhan. As a first step for the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre in Wuhan, an investigation was made to find out in which sectors Swedish environmental technology could be established. The investigation took aim at observing the industrial wastewater treatment in Wuhan and to see which types of companies that have problems with the wastewater treatment and if there existed Swedish technology that could solve the problems. The investigation was performed through interviews with the authorities and some selected companies. It was difficult to get information about companies that did not comply with the National Chinese wastewater standards. This meant that some of the visits were made to companies that comply with the standards, also taking into consideration other problems with the environment that the companies might have. Visits were also paid to municipal wastewater treatment plants to get an overview over the municipal wastewater treatment situation. An overall survey of the environmental situation in Wuhan was also made and a presentation of the most important environmental departments and institutions is given. The greatest challenge for Wuhan is to construct wastewater treatment plants for the around 3.5 million people that still discharge their wastewater directly to rivers and lakes, rather than to improve the industrial wastewater treatment further. The treatment rate of the industrial wastewater has reached 97%, but the municipal wastewater treatment rate has only reached 70%. After the visits to the selected companies and municipal wastewater treatment plants the conclusion was made that Swedish technologies and expertise can be applied to the following areas; handling sludge from the wastewater treatment plants, construction of waste incineration plants and handling flue gas and dioxins. Most of the visited companies could follow the wastewater standards. Although much can be done to improve their technologies further, this is not done since it is too expensive. It is possible for Wuhan to apply stricter local wastewater treatment standards. This could be used as a tool to make companies invest more money in improvements of their technologies.

Gaseous exhaust of different industries contains dust particles of different chemical precipitates that are harmful for the environment. Electrostatic Precipitators are very often used in industries to filter their gaseous exhaust and to prevent the atmosphere to being polluted. Electrostatic Precipitators are very efficient in their work. Electrostatic Precipitators use the force of the electric field to separate the dust particles from gaseous exhaust. Electrostatic Precipitators charge the dust particles and remove these particles by attracting these charged dust particles toward the collecting plates. The charging of dust particles requires a charging zone. When gas passes through that charging zone, the dust particles in the gas stream become charged and then these charged particles are attracted toward the collecting plates. The design of an Electrostatic Precipitators requires the knowledge of its working principle and the problems that often arise during its working. This thesis is the study of the working and the problems of the Electrostatic Precipitators. The main reason for problems in working of an Electrostatic Precipitator is the dust resistivity. This dust resistivity affects the collection performance of an Electrostatic Precipitator. This thesis also contains the simulation of an Electrostatic Precipitator. In the simulation part, the Electric Potential and the Electric Field of an ESP is modeled in an ideal condition, when no gas is flowing through the ESP. The industrial software Comsol Multiphysics is used for the simulation. A Comsol Multiphysics guide is given in appendix of this thesis report that provides information about using this software.

Arsenic and selenium distributions in coal-fired plant samples are studied. This research includes arsenic and selenium concentrations in samples of coal, fly ash, bottom ash, economizer ash, Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) slurry and flue gas taken from four power plants with the goal being to examine the distribution of these metals in these materials and calculate a materials balance for the system. All samples were analyzed using ICP-ES. This research shows that 60-80% of the arsenic in coal-fired plant samples will be associated with the fly ash. Approximately 35-55% of the selenium will be associated with the fly ash and approximately 30-40% will be associated with the FGD slurry materials. The amount of arsenic and selenium present in the flue gases escaping the stack is very little, 6-7% or less. Hopefully, research in this area will be helpful when setting emissions limits, identifying and disposing of hazardous wastes and improving air pollution control devices for maximum metal removal.

A 20 kg/hr ritual-money combustion chamber and a 20 Am3/min (@35oC) wet scrubber were setup for performance tests on the removal of TSP (total solid particulates) from the combustion flue gas. Test results indicate that (1) TSP in the flue gas ranged from 93-157 (avg. 126) and 127-182 (avg. 157) mg/m3 (@35oC) at gas drawing rates (QG) of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min (@35oC), respectively, and ritual-money combustion rates of 14.2-16.3 (avg. 15.3) kg/hr. The lower gas drawing rate gave lower TSP concentrations in the flue gas. TSP removal efficacy varied linearly with the liquid scrubbing rate (QL) and a 70% TSP removal was achieved at a QL of 60 L/min which is equivalent to a scrubbing-liquid intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s over the scrubber cross section. (2) Visual smoke intensity in the exit of the scrubber chimney was not apparent with a combustion rate of 16 kg/hr, scrubbing intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s, and gas drawing rates of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min. (3) Scrubbing water consumptions of 1.2-2.4 L were estimated for a combustion of 1 kg ritual money. (4) Pertinent design parameters of a scrubber for 70% TSP removal from the flue gas are (a) liquid/gas ratio (QL/QG) = 3-6 L liquid/(m3 gas @30oC); (b) superficial gas velocity over the scrubber cross section (UG) = 0.6-1.2 m/s; (c) superficial liquid velocity over the scrubber cross section (UL) = 0.004 m/s; and (d) a gas-liquid contacting length of 0.70 m. Results also show that the combustion exit gas odor concentration (D/T, dilution times to threshold) could be removed from 309 to 232 by the scrubber at operation conditions of QG = 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min, and QL = 60 L/min. Results also show that parts of CO2, CO, and NO could be removed by the scrubbing liquor, and there was no significant removal for NO2 and SO2 by the scrubber. By spraying KClO3 on a homemade wood pulp ritual money at a dosage of 3 wt.%, it shows that it burned more rapidly and with more smoke emission than a non-sprayed sample. Experiments also show that FeCl3 (15mg/L) was a satisfactory coagulant for enhancing the coagulation and sedimentation of the suspended solids (SS) in the wasted scrubbing liquor (known as Gray water). By the coagulant, SS in the Gray water with a pH of 7.0 could be removed from 100 to < 10 mg/L. XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) examination of a bottom ash sample indicates that the ash has an elemental composition of O, Na, Al, and Si of 49.9, 11.8, 23.8, and 15.1%, respectively. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis indicates that the collected fly ash and the bottom one have particle sizes of 20-110 (mostly 45-60 nm) and 50-300 (average 250) nm, respectively.

The objective of this study was to remove mercury vapor from municipal waste incinerator (MWI) by the adsorption of powder activated carbon (PAC) prepared from the pyrolysis of waste tire. The study focused on the measurement of mercury concentration in flue gas emitted from municipal waste incinerator, the preparation of PAC from the pyrolysis of the waste tire and impregnated with sulfur, and the adsorption capacity of mercury by the self-made PAC. The measurement of heavy metals in flue gas emitted from four typical MWIs was conducted in this study. Experimental results obtained from the measurement of mercury from flue gas indicated that the removal efficiency of mercury ranged from 83.71%~96.22%for the tested MWIs. This study revealed that the injection of PAC in flue gas would enhance the removal efficiency of mercury. Besides, oxided mercury (Hg2+) can be removed much more easily than elemental mercury (Hg0). Experimental results obtained from the pyrolysis of waste tires indicated that the pyrolysis temperature of waste tire was approximately 400~500¢J, and the percentage of carbon residue is 35~37%. With higher temperature and water feed rate and longer activation time, the specific surface area and total pore volume of PAC increased while the average pore radius decreased. The highest specific surface area of PAC obtained in this study was 996 m2/g. In addition, experimental results obtained from sulfur impregnation process indicated that the specific surface area of PAC decreased dramatically as sulfur was added to PAC. Experiment results obtained from the adsorption capacity of HgCl2 on PAC by column test indicated that PAC with higher specific surface area could adsorb more HgCl2 at room temperature (25¢J). The adsorption capacity of sulfur impregnated PAC decreased at 25¢J was due to the decrease of specific surface area of PAC. However, results from the comparison of two PAC with similar specific surface area indicated that the PAC with higher sulfur content had higher adsorption capacity. It suggested that the addition of sulfur to PAC could enhance the adsorption of HgCl2 at 25¢J. Experimental results obtained from column tests at 150¢J showed that the adsorption capacity of PAC increased as sulfur content of PAC increased. These results suggested that the adsorption mechanism of HgCl2 by PAC was mainly physical adsorption at lower temperature and it was chemisorption at higher temperature. Besides, the self-made PAC demonstrated the similar adsorption capacity of HgCl2 with commercial PAC used in MWIs.

Improvement of the efficiency of carbon dioxide (CO2) separation from flue gases has been identified as a high-priority research area to reduce the total energy cost of carbon capture and sequestration technologies in coal-fired power plants. Efficient CO2 removal from flue gases by adsorption systems requires the design of novel sorbents capable of capturing, concentrating and recovering CO2 on a cost-effective basis. The preparation of a novel aminosilane-functionalized cellulosic polymer sorbent by grafting of aminosilanes showed promising performance for CO2 separation and capture. A strategy for the introduction of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminoisobutyldimethylmethoxysilane functionalities into cellulose acetate backbone by anhydrous grafting is described in this study. The dry sorption capacity of the aminosilane-functionalized cellulosic polymer reached 27 cc (STP) CO2/ cc sorbent at 1 atm and 39 cc (STP) CO2/ cc sorbent at 5 atm and 308 K. Exposure to water vapor slightly increased the sorption capacity of the sorbent, suggesting its potential for rapid cyclic adsorption processes under humid feed conditions. In addition, a strategy for the preparation of a cellulose acetate-titanium(IV) oxide sorbent by the reaction of cellulose acetate with titanium tetrachloride is presented. The organic-metal hybrid sorbent presented a sorption capacity of 14 cc (STP) CO2/ cc sorbent at 1 atm and 49 cc (STP) CO2/ cc sorbent at 5 atm and 308 K. The novel CO2 sorbents were characterized in terms of chemical composition, density changes, molecular structure, thermal stability, and surface morphology.

The use of novel hyperbranched aminosilica (HAS) materials created through the ring-opening polymerization of aziridine from mesoporous silica supports was proposed for the adsorption of CO2 from dilute sources. The limits of the adsorptive performance of these adsorbents were investigated via the preparation of sets of materials with a range of aminopolymer loadings on several different silica supports with different pore space characteristics. Relationships were determined between the materials' amine loadings and the CO2 adsorption performance. Adsorbents with substantial remaining pore volume displayed universal adsorption kinetics when normalized by amine loading. However, materials with blocked pores displayed substantially slower adsorption kinetics due to hindered mass transfer. In both humid and dry conditions, the HAS adsorbent was found to have a surprisingly large CO2 capacity in light of the 250-fold reduction in CO2 partial pressure from 10% CO2 (flue gas application) to 400 ppm CO2 (air capture application). Finally, a new series of linear aminosilicas was created through the reaction of existing aminosilicas with N-protected-aziridines. Specifically, reaction of aminosilane-functionalized silicas with N-methylaziridine resulted in the linear growth of methylaminoethyl groups, effectively increasing the amine loading of the adsorbent by a stoichiometric amount of an additional amine per attached silane.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis--Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

In the selection of candidates for CO2 absorption, solvent thermal degradation has become a general concern due to the significant impact on operational cost and the intention to use thermal compression from high temperature stripping to minimize the overall process energy. In this research, the impact of flue gas contaminants on Monoethanolamine (MEA) thermal degradation was investigated at elevated temperatures consistent with those in the CO2 stripper. Nitrite, fly ash, sulfate and thiosulfate were each added to 5.0 M MEA and the contaminant-containing MEA solutions were degraded at 125 °C, 135 °C and 145 °C. MEA degrades significantly more in the presence of nitrite (5000 ppm) than MEA alone at the same amine molar concentration for all three temperatures. MEA degradation activation energy of MEA-nitrite solution is approximately one-seventh of that of MEA solution without nitrite. Fly ash was observed to inhibit nitrite-induced MEA degradation and greatly increase the MEA degradation activation energy of MEA-nitrite solution. Fly ash, sodium sulfate and sodium thiosulfate by themselves were not shown to impact MEA thermal degradation rate. Sodium salts of glycine, sarcosine, alanine and ß-alanine were thermally degraded at 125 °C, 135 °C and 145 °C, respectively, to discover the structural reasons for their thermal stability. These four amino acids have enhanced thermal degradation rates compared to MEA. The stability order for amino acid salts tested to date is: sarcosinate > alaninate > ß-alaninate. Calculated activation energies for the degradation processes are lower than that of MEA. ß-Alaninate (ß-Ala) thermal degradation generates ß-Ala dimer (major degradation product), ß-Ala dimer carbamate and tetrahydro-1,3-oxazin-6-one. Functional groups, amine orders and steric effect were investigated for their impact on amine thermal degradation. Primary amines with chain structures showed a thermal stability trend as diamine > alkanolamine > amino acid salt. For alknolamine and diamine structural isomers, the primary amines are more stable than the secondary amines. Steric hindrance around the amine group plays a global positive role in protecting amines against thermal degradation.

Post-combustion carbon capture, wherein the CO2 produced as a result of coal combustion is trapped at the power plant exhaust, is seen as a bridging technology to reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change. This capture process will however impose a parasitic load on the power plant and technologies need to be developed to minimize this energy penalty. This research focuses on a technology which uses solid sorbents fashioned into a hollow fiber form that allows water-moderated thermal cycling as a means of trapping CO2 from flue gas. While hollow fiber technology has intrinsic advantages over competing liquid amine and packed bed technologies, the materials used to fabricate hollow fibers and the fabrication process itself need to be optimized in order to result in competitive, robust hollow fiber sorbents. This dissertation focuses on the material selection process for each component of the hollow fiber platform and discusses ways to optimize the fiber and barrier layer formation. Different materials were evaluated to function as the solid sorbent, the matrix polymer and the barrier layer; and eventually their performance was measured against past work in this area.