TEM study of fine particles from coal-fired power plant ambient air
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the submicron particles (with diameter of 0.2-1.0 μm) of the ambient air from a coal-fired power plant. A systematic examination of their morphology, particle size and chemical element will be analyzed, so as to provide more scientific information and theoretical basis for the formation and control method of inhalable particles, as well as data support for environmental impact and ecological effects assessments.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the morphology, size distribution and elemental characteristics of submicron particles from ambient air of a coal-fired power plant are studied by single particle analysis.
Findings
The results show that atmospheric particles in coal-fired power plant are mainly spherical particles, and most of them are soot aggregates adhered or coated with other particles with few rectangle particles. The particles collected in the afternoon and evening are mainly of spherical particles, and small-sized particles collected in the morning are mainly spherical ones, while the overall concentration is larger than that of the spherical particles in the size range above 0.5 μm. The results indicated that the larger-sized spherical particles have a lower concentration.
Originality/value
Coal-fired power plants are still the main supply of electricity in China, but the inhalable particles, especially sub-micron particles (0.1-1.0 μm) cannot be effectively captured by the dust removal device from the coal-fired power plant. Thus, a large amount of inhalable particles is emitted into the atmosphere, becoming the major air pollutants in China.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Mr Kun Huang and Ms Caiqing Yan for their assistance with particle collection, and Nicholas James O’Connor for his assistance with English editing. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41541038), the special fund of State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining (SKLCRSM16KFB02), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (D2016402120) and the Education Bureau of Hebei Province for Excellent Young Scholars (YQ2014020).
Citation
Pian, W., Cheng, W., Niu, H. and Fan, J. (2016), "TEM study of fine particles from coal-fired power plant ambient air", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 311-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJE-08-2016-042
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited