Practical Issues of Combustion Oxygen Measurement Specifically Related to NOx Emissions

Power plants concerned with lowering NOx emissions are making tremendous changes to accommodate EPA regulatory requirements. A substantial number of these changes include the expansion and upgrade of the plant combustion oxygen measurement equipment. There is a striking relationship between the number of NOx reductions projects and the sales quantity of insitu oxygen detectors. The reason is that power plant betterment groups, operators, boiler manufacturers and engineering firms understand the direct relationship between NOx and excess air in the combustion process. An area of daily practical importance to boiler operators and I&C teams are the common problems with insitu oxygen measurements. This paper focuses on the practical issues of combustion oxygen measurement as they relate to specifically to fuel usage and NOx emissions.