Technical Bulletin No. 0007: Studies of the Analysis of Kraft Mill Gases (AQTB)

In a prior Technical Bulletin (No, 51), the possible application of an automatic air pollutant analyzer to the measurement of emissions from pulp mills was discussed. This analyzer, known as MINI-ADAK, was developed at Washington State College, and is being used currently by Dr. Donald F. Adams, of Washington State College, on the National Council Atmospheric Pollution Study Project. Laboratory studies of possible calorimetric reactions for the detection of mercaptans and organic sulfides have been undertaken and are reported in the attached bulletin. The presence of high quantities of water vapor in most kraft mill gases makes the instrumental analyses of these effluents difficult. Considerable attention has been devoted, therefore, to the separation of water vapor and carbon dioxide from the gases. It has been established that wet streams of hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan can be dried, without measurable loss, by passing the samples through columns of calcium sulfate. The results of this research are also described in this reportThe attached bulletin is a summary report on the research being carried on at the National Council's Washington State College Atmospheric Pollution Project, under Dr. Donald Adams' direction. To date, these studies have been on methods for the collection and analyses of gaseous pulping emissions. It has been shown that calcium sulfate is an excellent drying agent for handling these gases which have high concentrations of water vapor. Experiments have been conducted with activated carbon and silica gel for collecting and concentrating the constituents of the effluents, and the latter material has given fairly successful results. Work is continuing along these lines. Improvements are described in the gas chromatographic procedure for the separation and identification of sulfur-containing malodorous compounds. The search for suitable calorimetric reactions, which might be used in the continuous analyzer developed by Dr. Adams and his associates, is also continuing.