Michael Luckas

A Heat and Mass Transfer Model for the Simulation of the Wet Limestone Flue Gas Scrubbing Process

The efficiency of a limestone flue gas scrubber depends on such a large number of coupled parameters that their influence on the absorption cannot be sufficiently investigated using only experimental measurements in pilot or full-scale plants. A systematic and cost-effective optimization of the highly developed technology used today is only possible with the support of a simulation model that is based on fundamental scientific and engineering principles containing a small number of physically well-defined parameters.

Determination of Hydrogen Single Ion Activity Coefficients in Aqueous HCl Solutions at 25°C

The single ion activity coefficients of hydrogen and chloride ions in aqueous HCl solutions have been estimated at 25°C at concentrations up to 1 mol-kg−1, using potentiometric measurements with ion-selective electrodes and appropriate calibration procedures. Two methods are described for an internal calibration of the electrodes in the extended Debye–Hückel concentration range. The results are compared to the conventional pH calibration with external buffer solutions. Since the latter calibration method does not account for the liquid junction potential EJ which arises at the reference electrode, the resulting activity coefficients are quite different in HCl solutions of higher concentration. These differences between internal and external calibration decrease significantly, when a correction for EJ is introduced into the conventional pH calibration. Hence, in solutions of higher ionic strength the accuracy of the conventional pH electrode calibration using buffer solutions is very limited, when exact H+ activities are required. The consistency of the results indicates that the liquid junction potentials in the examined systems calculated by the Henderson/Bates approximation are of reasonable precision.

Effects of limestone addition and sintering on heavy metal leaching from hazardous waste incineration slag.

Hazardous waste incineration (HWI) in rotary kilns and the disposal of the residual slag on landfills play an important role in German waste treatment. In order to save disposal costs the elution behaviour of HWI-slag should be further optimised. Quality-improved slag may be disposed off on cheaper landfill sites still applying to landfill regulations. In a new process-integrated approach hazardous waste is mixed with limestone, which initiates chemical reactions with heavy metals in the rotary kiln yielding new compounds of different solubility. In this work HWI-slag/limestone mixtures are thermally treated and then examined by elution tests. Experimental data indicate that the heavy metals pertinent to landfill class assignment of a HWI-slag share a solubility minimum at a CaO-content of about 15%. Such improved HWI-slags are allowed to be disposed off on cheaper landfill sites. Furthermore, a new combination of thermodynamic calculation methods is applied to predict heavy metal solubility for different process conditions. Used models hold the opportunity to explain the tendencies of heavy metal leaching and propose plausible chemical reactions. With it, a new tool to examine the impact of temperature treatment and slag composition on heavy metal elution from HWI-slag is presented.