Mercury Monitoring in a Cement Kiln

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces the Mercury Monitoring Systems at CEMS 2011 for the Cement Industry in Europe.

This press release note discusses the adaptability of the Mercury Freedom System to the unique conditions in a cement plant.

The cement process is known to be a harsh operating environment for stack monitoring on account of high temperatures, moisture and dust in the flue gas. Furthermore, sudden changes in the process can cause large variations in mercury emissions. The Mercure Freedom System is ideal for capturing such dramatic variations in emissions output because it uses a direct measurement method unlike a sorbent trap or batch amalgamation.

The Mercury Freedom System offers high measurement sensitivity, fast response times and robust operation in harsh environments through a simple design that closely resembles a traditional wet-basis dilution extractive CEMS. The system is capable of measuring elemental, ionic and total mercury in exhaust stacks through the use of Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence technology. This design also eliminates the need for an SO2 scrubber, commonly used with atomic absorption systems, or an expensive carrier gas (e.g. Argon) and provides true continuous measurement as opposed to batch collection by pre-concentration of mercury on a gold amalgamation trap.

In summary, our field tests have proven that the current design of the Mercury Freedom System is fully capable of meeting the requirements of the cement industry and we will continue to focus on enhancing the range and sensitivity of the instruments to meet more stringent needs that may arise in the future.