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BALLOON-BORNE PARTICULATE SAMPLING FOR MONITORING POWER PLANT EMISSIONS
Citation:
Armstrong, J., P. Russell, AND R. Williams. BALLOON-BORNE PARTICULATE SAMPLING FOR MONITORING POWER PLANT EMISSIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-78/205.
Description:
The report describes a lightweight remote-controlled sampler, carried aloft by a tethered balloon, that has been developed to collect particulates from the plumes of fossil-fueled power plants at various downwind distances. The airborne sampler is controlled from the ground by a radio transmitter and receiver/servo system. A verification transmitter/receiver system allows monitoring of various commands to the sampler for correct operation. The sampler uses a pump to draw air through a strip of Nuclepore or other filter media. The sampler can be selectively actuated in flight to collect a number of discrete samples on the filter or to take a time-resolved streak sample across a length of the filter. The sampling system was field tested at two sites burning low-sulfur coal, an urban and a rural power plant. The collected samples were analyzed in terms of size, concentration, and composition using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. In general, the particles were spheres with diameters <5 micrometers. Some agglomerates were found. Most of the fly ash was composed of Si and Al, with small amounts of Fe.