Technical Bulletin No. 0042: The Control of Particulate and Gaseous Emissions from Coal-fired Stationery Combustion Units (AQTB)

Nearly a decade has passed since the National Council distributed Atmospheric Pollution Technical Bulletin No. 12, "Manual-Air Pollution Control-Combustion Processes". Since then numerous regulatory agencies have issued new standards governing particulate emissions from coal-fired power boilers. Limitations have also been placed on either sulfur content of fuels or SO2 levels. These developments are being accelerated under the impetus of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1967. It was therefore felt timely to summarize current knowledge concerning particulate and gaseous emission control for coal-fired boilers to aid member mills in developing remedial programs where needed for compliance with new control regulations. The attached Technical Bulletin prepared through the efforts of Andre L. Caron, West Coast Regional Engineer, concerns itself with specific aspects of the problem including (a) furnace stack plume evaluation techniques, (b) the relation between fuel type, firing mode and particulate emission level, (c) methods for particulate removal, and (d) current status of gaseous emission control. An appendix summarizes a number of existing regulations pertaining to power boilers. A similar review is in progress concerned with particulate emission control for bark-fired boilers and will be the subject of a later report.