The Impact of Flue Emissions

The sight of a smokestack puffing white clouds up into the sky may at one time have seemed quaint or industrious. However, times have changed and scientists and governments around the world have repeatedly emphasized the importance of clean air and encouraged the reduction of air pollution. Now more than ever, an emissions analyzer is critical to maintaining a clean fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler, or steam generator. These things produce flue gas as a byproduct of the combustion process. Monitoring and analyzing this flue gas is important to comply with government regulations and to safeguard the future health of individuals and the environment.

What Are Flue Gases?

Flue gases are a byproduct of combustion, the process by which hydrocarbons, or fossil fuels, are burned to produce heat and energy. The primary products of combustion are nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water. Some pollutants that are produced as well are sulfur dioxide, carbon oxides, and nitrogen oxides. When these toxic gases are not properly monitored, controlled, and scrubbed, they escape into the atmosphere.

Why Should They Be Monitored?

When toxic gases are released into the atmosphere, they degrade the quality of air that everyone breathes. Poor air quality causes and worsens conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases. Pollutants also combine with other substances such as water and oxygen to form acid rain. When acid rain falls on lakes and forests, the overly acidic water can dissolve nutrients essential to plant life, or change the makeup of water so that fish, frogs, and plankton are no longer capable of living in it. Acid rain also damages humans by releasing harmful particles which, when breathed in, can lead to serious health issues.

What an Analyzer Does

With an emissions analyzer, you can know how clean and efficient your boiler or furnace is. In a typical system, flue gas is pumped into the analysis machine by a probe. The gas is then measured for the concentrations of certain gases present in the sample. Analyzers typically monitor for oxygen, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, and hydrogen chloride, among others. There are different ways in which these gases are measured, including diluted and undiluted methods.

Emissions Standards

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently sets national standards for air quality and emissions in America. Some states such as California have their own stricter emissions standards as well. Complying with these regulations is mandatory for individuals and businesses, and non-compliance can lead to heavy fines or other punishments. Having an emissions analyzer for your steam generator or oven will ensure that you are always aware of the quality and cleanliness of your flue gas. Furthermore, diligently monitoring your emissions can indicate when your system is under-performing in terms of efficiency. Dealing with any efficiency problems will not only make sure your system runs cleaner, but it can also save a lot of money down the road.

Investing in a good emissions analyzer is a responsible and smart thing to do. It will help you keep the environment cleaner for everyone, increase the quality of air, and help your system run as efficiently as possible.Click here