Mika Kato* and Kohei Urano*

* Laboratory of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Yokohama National University

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Mika Kato:
(79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501 Japan)

Abstract

Since the operation conditions for measuring of dioxins in flue gas are not optimized in detail, hard work and skill are necessary to measure dioxins. The burden of measurement is one of the inhibiting factors for developing countermeasures to the problem of dioxins. In this study, an efficient sampling method was developed as one way to address these problems. Recoveries of PCDDs/PCDFs in each part of the sampling trains used in the conventional method and the efficient method were examined. Also, it was clarified that by using the newly developed efficient sampling method, which was composed of only two cooled impingers containing 200ml water and 300ml diethylene glycol, PCDDs/PCDFs could be completely recovered. The concentrations of PCDDs/PCDFs in the same flue gas, sampled using the efficient method and the conventional method, in 4 waste incineration facilities were compared by the authors, and three major analytical companies. It was confirmed that using the efficient method could result in the same or higher data than by using the conventional method, and that the five bottles and the XAD2 resin used in the conventional method are unnecessary. By this efficient method, preparation and operation of the sampling, the extraction process and the concentration process became drastically easier, and the solvent amounts in the extraction process could be reduced remarkably. If this developed, efficient method is used, dioxins in flue gas can be sampled and extracted easily not only by analytical companies, but also by incineration facilities themselves, and the measurement costs may be reduced drastically.

Key words: dioxins, sampling, flue gas