Prioritization of VOCs Emitted from Co-Processing Cement Kiln Using a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Method

The violate organic compounds (VOCs) emission from co-processing cement kiln has not been comprehensively investigated and evaluated. In this study, we sampled and determined the VOCs emitted from a typical co-processing cement kiln in Beijing, China. VOCs characteristics, ozone formation potential (OFP), and main odor components for the emitted gas were analyzed. Additionally, a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) was innovatively applied to estimate the priority VOCs. The study shows that aromatic (36.6%) and oxygen contained VOCs (O-VOCs) (30.3%) were the most abundant VOCs, with a high average concentration of benzene (1622.0 mu g/m(3)) and acrolein (1105.5 mu g/m(3)). Acrolein, propene, benzene, 1-butane, and 1,3-butadiene were the dominate OFP compounds, with the corresponding average OFP concentration of 8325.6, 3768.2, 1167.9, 1065.9, and 1027.2 mu g/m(3), respectively. Acrolein was also found to be the dominate main odor component. Eleven VOCs, including one O-VOC, one halohydrocarbon, and nine alkenes, were screened out by F-AHP. Alkene was the priority VOCs category and acrolein was the most important VOC in the stack gas. The results of this study are helpful to systematically understand the VOCs' characteristics, OFP, main odor components, and priority compounds of VOCs in the stack gas of co-processing cement kiln, and provide a new method for the screening of priority VOCs compounds.

Automated summary

This study comprehensively investigated and evaluated the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from co-processing cement kilns. Sampling and analysis of a typical co-processing cement kiln in Beijing, China revealed that aromatic compounds and oxygen-containing VOCs were the most abundant, with benzene and acrolein having high concentrations. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) was used to prioritize VOCs, with alkenes being the category of highest priority and acrolein being the most important VOC in the emitted gas.