Apparatus for transporting emissions from a stack

Abstract

The apparatus and method of the present invention extract samples of emissions within a stack or duct through the use of a probe. The sample is transported from the probe through a transport device into a mass-monitoring device in which the amount of particulate matter contained in the sample of the emissions is continuously analyzed. The apparatus of the present invention includes a transport device which has a porous inner tube completely sealed inside a solid outer tube. The outer tube of the transport device is supplied with gas through a transpiration port in the outer tube. The gas permeates from the outer tube through the porous inner tube in order to reduce deposition by keeping the particulate matter suspended within the porous inner tube. The method of the present invention continuously analyzes the amount of particulate contained within a sample of the emissions collected from a stack or duct by (i) extracting a sample of particular matter from a stack or duct by using a probe, (ii) transporting the sample of the emissions from the probe through the aforementioned transport device into a mass-monitoring device, while simultaneously supplying a gas into the outside tube of the transport device such that gas flows from the outer tube through the porous inner tube to reduce deposition of particulate matter onto the porous inner tube, and (iii) continuously analyzing the amount of particulate contained in the emissions received from the transport device. Problems associated with deposition of the particulate matter contained within the sample of the emissions after collection by the probe and prior to analysis are reduced with the present invention resulting in greater accuracy when monitoring the amount of particulate matter emitted from a stack.