An analysis of extinction coefficients of particles and water moisture in the stack after flue gas desulfurization at a coal-fired power plant.

Two important factors that affect in-stack opacity--light extinction by emitted particles and that by water moisture after a flue gas desulfurization (FGD) unit--are investigated. The mass light extinction coefficients for particles and water moisture, k(p) and k(w), respectively, were determined using the Lambert-Beer law of opacity with a nonlinear least-squares regression method. The estimated k(p) and k(w) values vary from 0.199 to 0.316 m2/g and 0.000345 to 0.000426 m2/g, respectively, and the overall mean estimated values are 0.229 and 0.000397 m2/g, respectively. Although k(w) is 3 orders of magnitude smaller than k(p), experimental results show that the effect on light extinction by water moisture was comparable to that by particles because of the existence of a considerable mass of water moisture after a FGD unit. The mass light extinction coefficient was also estimated using Mie theory with measured particle size distributions and a complex refractive index of 1.5-ni for fly ash particles. The k(p) obtained using Mie theory ranges from 0.282 to 0.286 m2/g and is slightly greater than the averaged estimated k(p) of 0.229 m2/g from measured opacity. The discrepancy may be partly due to a difference in the microstructure of the fly ash from the assumption of solid spheres because the fly ash may have been formed as spheres attached with smaller particles or as hollow spheres that contained solid spheres. Previously reported values of measured k(p) obtained without considering the effects of water moisture are greater than that obtained in this study, which is reasonable because it reflects the effect of extinction by water moisture in the flue gas. Additionally, the moisture absorbed by particulate matter, corresponding to the effect of water moisture on the particulates, was clarified and found to be negligible.