The wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) system of coal-fired power plants shows a good removal effect on condensable particulate matter (CPM), reducing the dust removal pressure for the downstream flue gas purification devices. In this work, the removal effect of a WFGD system on CPM and its organic pollutants from a coal-fired power plant was studied. By analyzing the organic components of the by-products emitted from the desulfurization tower, the migration characteristics of organic pollutants in gas, liquid, and solid phases, as well as the impact of desulfurization towers on organic pollutants in CPM, were discussed. Results show that more CPM in the flue gas was generated by coal-fired units at ultra-low load, and the WFGD system had a removal efficiency nearly 8% higher than that at full load. The WFGD system had significant removal effect on two typical esters, especially phthalate esters (PAEs), with the highest removal efficiency of 49.56%. In addition, the WFGD system was better at removing these two esters when the unit was operating at full load. However, it had a negative effect on n-alkanes, which increased the concentration of n-alkanes by 8.91 to 19.72%. Furthermore, it is concluded that the concentration distribution of the same type of organic pollutants in desulfurization wastewater was similar to that in desulfurization slurry, but quite different from that in coal-fired flue gas. The exchange of three organic pollutants between flue gas and desulfurization slurry was not significant, while the concentration distribution of organic matters in gypsum was affected by coal-fired flue gas.
Keywords: Condensable particulate matter (CPM); Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs); Organic pollutants; Phthalate esters (PAEs); Wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) system; n-Alkanes.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.