Environmental Engineering FOURTH EDITION

400 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGMERING

Burner ports

Burner piping

Dirty gas inlet

Figure 20-14. Incinerator for controlling gaseous pollutants. (Courtesy of American

Lung Association.)

of incineration in which thereaction is facilitated energetically and carried out at a lower

temperature by surface catalysis, and will be discussed further in connection with

mobile source control. Figure 20-15 compares incineration and catalytic combustion.

Control of Sulfur Dioxide

Sulfur dioxide (S02) is both ubiquitous and a serious pollution hazard. The largest

single source in the United States, and probably in the industrialized world, is gener-

ation of electricity by burning oil or coal, both of which contain sulfur. Increasingly

strict standards for SO2 control have prompted the development of a number of options

and techniques for reducing SO2 emissions. Among these options are:

a Change to low-sulfurfuel. Natural gas is exceedingly low in sulfur, while oil

burned for industrial heat and electric power generation contains between 0.5 and

3% sulfur, and coal between 0.3 and 4%. Low-sulfur fuel, however, is expensive

and the supply is uncertain.