Application of graph theory on the relationship of the parameters affecting the dioxin furan emission in incineration process

Abstract

There is no graph theoretical application established in the study of dioxin furan emission (DFE) in incineration process thus far although there have been ongoing researches on incineration systems. Due to the wide applications of graph theory in real world problems, the study embarked in the investigation of the relationship between parameters affecting the DFE in the incineration system using this concept. The research began with the identification of parameters which were anticipated to affect the dioxin furan emission and the study of the incineration data. The six parameters identified were temperature, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2) and moisture content. The result of correlation analysis served as a platform to further investigate the relationship between influential parameters, and hence provided better insights in the construction of the graphical models, namely correlation graph and weighted correlation graph. Centrality concepts of graph theory were then used to determine the roles of the parameters in the incineration process and eventually related to the DFE.