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PLATING AND ANODIZING: STACK TESTING

FUNDAMENTALS

OF STACK TESTING

By Peter J. Paine

ir pollution is not a new phenomenon. There are several By the early 1970s, and in recognition of and response to poten-
natural forms of air pollution going back to antiquity such tially worsening environmental issues, both the USA and Canada
Aas volcanic eruptions which put large amounts of fine had formed federal environmental agencies: The US EPA (formed
dust, ash, cinder, and gases into the atmosphere. The eruption of in 1971) and Environment Canada (formed in 1972), respectively.
Mt. Vesuvius outside Naples, Italy, in AD 79 was recorded by the Their task was to develop regulations to control pollutants released
Roman historian Tacitus. by various industrial sectors and to set limits to environmental (air,
Historical references to air pollution can be found in English water and soil) pollution.
history with the introduction of “sea coal” in 11th Century England.
Use of sea coals (so called because the locations of out-cropping FIGURE 1: TYPES OF AIR POLLUTANTS.
coal seams were near the sea) gave rise to mounting nuisance com-
plaints of smoke and gas. At this time, the main fuel was wood. Ho-
wever, with the discovery and use of coal, the smoke and fly ash Types of Pollutants
problem (these were the two “main” air pollutants at that time)
continued to worsen. This was especially the case during the In- Conventional – SO , NOx, CO
dustrial Revolution which started in England in the late 18th Cen- 2
tury and continued into the mid-19th Century. Volatile – VOCs, VC, Freons, BTEX
The Industrial Revolution in England (and industrial develop- Semi-volatile – Dioxins, PCBs, CBs, PAHs
ment in other countries) – and the metallurgical and technological
developments that were made during these important years – was Particulate – TPM, PM , PM
fueled entirely by coal. In the early 1900s, Dr. Voeux, an English 2.5 10
physician, coined the term “smog” to describe the combination of Metals – Hg, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, As
smoke and fog which he concluded was the cause of respiratory is-
sues with his patients.
As coal was gradually replaced by petroleum, the soot and fly ash One manner with which to regulate industrial air pollution from
problems from coal were replaced by new species of pollution such stationary sources is to find out how much is being released by that
as oxidants, peroxides, ozone, and various hydrocarbon reaction specific industry. One way to do this is to perform stack testing for
products (photochemical pollution). the contaminant in question. Stack testing is the process whereby a
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