Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in industrial emissions - Challenges and strategies to measure, monitor, control and reduce PAH emissions

Abstract

There are hundreds of PAH compounds, and some of them are known to have negative effect on nature and humans if emitted to the environment. On a regulatory level, the long-term goal is to eliminate PAH emissions. It is important to measure PAH correctly to understand where these pollutants come from. Only then will it be possible to reduce or eliminate the sources of PAH Due to the vast number of PAH compounds, it is not possible to analyze for all. Therefore, a PAH-indicator (called proxy) is necessary. A good proxy represents the PAHs in an acceptable way for the purpose at hand. Since the purposes vary, so does the proxies. The PAHssion project have come up with a few, new methods for monitoring PAH in industrial emission. The methods are particularly promising with respect to process optimization for emission reduction. This includes two new proxy parameters which may be used when there is little or no dust present.