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Use of gold tracer in the study of atmospheric oxidation of sulfur dioxide
Author(s) -
Rowe Richard D.,
Mohtadi Matt F.,
Havlena Jan J.,
Exall Douglas I.,
Benjamin Stephen F.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450600124
Subject(s) - plume , sulfur dioxide , tracer , dilution , chemistry , sulfur , environmental chemistry , dispersion (optics) , environmental science , analytical chemistry (journal) , meteorology , inorganic chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , organic chemistry , nuclear physics , optics
A technique using gold particles as a conserved tracer has been developed in an effort to determine experimentally the oxidation of sulfur dioxide in sour gas plant plumes. A helicopter was used for plume sampling at distances up to 4 km downwind of the stack. The concentration of sulfur dioxide gas in the plume sample was determined by the West‐Gaeke method. Neutron activation analysis was used to determine the concentration of gold particles in the plume sample. Since gold particles do not react chemically with plume gases, any decrease in their concentration along the plume path was due to turbulent dispersion. This parameter allowed an accurate estimation to be made of the decrease in the sulfur dioxide concentration within the plume sample that had occured due to physical dilution alone. Any further decrease in concentration could therefore be attributed to loss by chemical reaction. The experimental results indicated that, within the range studied, there is no measurable oxidation of sulfur dioxide in sour gas plant plumes.