[Stoves] Emission / combustion testing equipment

[frank]

Dear Stovers,

I have been working on such a system (emission/combustion testing)

Emission testing
The plan is to fill two, one liter tedlar bags.( www.zefon.com ) One 
with CO and the other with clean air. Take them along with 1) a multi 
channel peristaltic pump that pumps at two mls per minute, 2)  several 
empty one liter tedler bags and 3) filter set-up, 4) Data Logger and/or 
lap top computer 5) CO detector to the site where the emission testing 
is taking place. 

Connect in a line starting with the filter cartage with glass fiber 
filter > CO detector (computer/data logger) > pump > empty tedlar bag. 
Run for eight hours to fill the bag with representative filtered air 
sample during an active eight hour period. Collect the total particulate 
matter and monitor the relative CO values during that time.
After eight hours:
Filter paper is removed and capped for transport to a lab with a balance 
or carbon analyzer. The tedlar bag collecting the emissions is closed 
and removed The end of the tube where the filter was is now connected to 
the tedlar air bag and air is drawn through the CO detector system via 
pump. Using a series of syringes inject 1 to 250 uL CO into a T just 
upstream of the CO detector and calibrate the equipment. Then inject 250 
uL from the emission collection bag to determine the total CO (weight or 
volume) collected during that time. If the option of monitoring CO 
during that eight hour period was done the total area under the 
collection line plotted equals the total CO in the bag. Then the area at 
a chosen time can be plotted to determine the amount of CO collected 
during that time of day. The pump can be calibrated using water pumped 
during a ten minute period so the total air collected in the eight hours 
can be be accurately determined in the emission collection bag. This 
will detect about 5 ug CO /ml air.
I am going to experiment with an inline nepholometer modified for air to 
be used to complement/replace the filter. Knowing the total particulates 
from the filter and monitoring during collection one will be able to 
determine the amount released at any time during the day calculated like 
the CO above.


Combustion testing:
I'm still working on this but an O2 sensor works very well in line with 
the CO detector using the same pumping system. For this one will 
calibrate using an nitrogen filled tedlar bag for the O2 (inject in O2) 
and then a small tube brings in a 'bleed' of clean air from another 
tedlar bag just upstream of the CO detector to supply the oxygen needed 
for that detector and that is then calibrated using syringes and CO like 
before. A CO2 detector can also be in-line. To make the necessary 
dilutions smaller pump tubing can be T into larger ones using this multi 
channel pump. Much more work to be done.

The pump: Back in the 60's and 70's  the  Technicon Auto Analyzer 
Systems were very popular at Universities. They used a pump like the one 
pictured at the bottom of this site: 
http://www.labequip.com/itemcatalog/manufacturer/T-U/Technicon.html  
#07985. You may find them at the lab equipment graveyard at a 
University. Great pumps if you can find them. When working with pump 
tubing I suggest buying three sizes of pipette tips up to  200uL, to 
1000 uL and to 5000 uL sizes.  
http://www.enzymax.net/Lab_supplies/pipette_tips.htm This make 
connecting tubes of different sizes easy.

Moving forward...

 . Frank


-- 
Frank Shields
Soil Control Lab
42 Hangar way
Watsonville, CA  95076
(831) 724-5422 tel
(831) 724-3188 fax
frank at compostlab.com
www.compostlab.com