[Application of analytical pyrolysis in air pollution control for green sand casting industry]

Analytic pyrolysis was conducted to simulate the heating conditions that the raw materials of green sand would experience during metal casting process. The volatile organic compound (VOC) and hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from analytical pyrolysis were analyzed by gas chromatograph-flame ionization detector/mass spectrometry (GC-FID/MS). The emissions from analytical pyrolysis exhibited some similarity in the compositions and distributions with those from actual casting processes. The major compositions of the emissions included benzene, toluene and phenol. The relative changes of emission levels that were observed in analytical pyrolysis of the various raw materials also showed similar trends with those observed in actual metal casting processes. The emission testing results of both analytic pyrolysis and pre-production foundry have shown that compared to the conventional phenolic urethane binder, the new non-naphthalene phenolic urethane binder diminished more than 50% of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emissions, and the protein-based binder diminished more than 90% of HAP emissions. The similar trends in the two sets of tests offered promise that analytical pyrolysis techniques could be a fast and accurate way to establish the emission inventories, and to evaluate the relative emission levels of various raw materials of casting industry. The results of analytical pyrolysis could provide useful guides for the foundries to select and develop proper clean raw materials for the casting production.