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Montgomery County Maryland
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Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2012: No County-provided recycling or trash collections on May 28; all pickups this week shift by one day. Transfer Station closed May 28.
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Resource Recovery Facility: Emissions Data

Opacity | Carbon monoxide | Hydrogen chloride | Sulfur dioxide | Nitrogen oxides | Health effects

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is formed when sulfur contained in the waste is oxidized during burning of sulfur-containing items such as textiles, rubber, gypsum and plastics.

At the Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), a large fraction of SO2 is removed by the state-of-the-art air pollution control (APC) system, consisting of a dry scrubber, and hydrated lime injection into the furnace on an "as needed" basis. In the normal process, lime slurry (calcium hydroxide) is injected into the flue gas before it enters the fabric filter baghouse. Calcium hydroxide chemically combines with sulfur dioxide to neutralize the acid gas and form calcium sulfate particles, which are then removed by the fabric filter baghouse.

For the RRF, the permitted emission limit for SO2 is 30 parts per million (ppmv), averaged over a 3-hour period or at least (>=) 85% removal efficiency. Stack monitoring data indicates that over 90 percent of the SO2 is removed by the APC system. The SO2 levels, on the average, have been less than 15 ppmv, compared to the permitted emission limit of 30 ppmv.

Back to Continuous Emissions Monitoring Data page

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Resource Recovery Facility

Last edited: 4/23/2009