Remote observations of effluents from small building smokestacks using FTIR spectroscopy

Infrared emission spectra of effluents from the smokestacks of typical small buildings were observed remotely using a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the best method for distinguishing gas from oil as the fuel being burned in a building’s furnace. Spectral pattern recognition techniques were employed to suppress the strong and highly varying background to the extent required to extract the very weak molecular emission features from the effluent spectra. It was found that several prominent H_2O and CO_2 transitions could be used to discriminate between the combustion products of gas and oil by determining the H_2O/CO_2 concentration ratio in the exhaust gases.