Irradiation induced aerosol formation in flue gas: experiments on low doses

Laboratory experiments on irradiation induced aerosol formation from gaseous sulphur dioxide in humid air are presented. This work is connected to the aerosol particle formation process in the electron beam technique for cleaning flue gas. As a partial process of this method primary products of the radiolysis of water vapour convert sulphur dioxide into gaseous sulphuric acid which then nucleates with water vapour forming small acid droplets. This experimental work has been performed on relatively low absorbed doses. Aerosol particle formation is strongly dependent on dose. In the experiments, the first aerosol particles were detected already on absorbed doses of 0.1-10 mGy. The particle size in these cases is in the so-called ultrafine size range (1-20 nm). In this article three experimental set-ups with some characteristic results are presented. (Author)