A coal-fire power plant in Incheon, a port city 40 kilometers west of Seoul, generates steam on Dec. 16, 2020. (Yonhap)
DAEJEON, Jan. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — New technology has been developed to effectively filter fine dust in the white smoke emitted from thermoelectric power plants and waste incinerating facilities.
The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials said Wednesday that it had developed a system that filters contaminants in the smoke through simultaneous cooling and absorption of smoke emitted from chimneys.
Condensable fine dust particles are emitted as gas at high temperatures but turn into solid particles as they cool down.
The research team managed to collect smoke as hot as more than 100 degrees Celsius, cool it down to close to room temperature, turn the gas into a liquid and filter the moisture to get rid of the fine dust particles.
Through this method, the research team filtered 70 percent of moisture and 80 percent of fine dust, spraying moisture absorbers one more time to dry off the water.
As a result, the research team succeeded in filtering as much as 85 percent of moisture and fine dust.
The research team used a simple cooling system to filter as many condensable fine dust particles as possible from the white smoke, and then use additives to absorb the moisture.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
