Coal-fired thermal power plants are the main source of electrical power in China, accounting for more than 60% of the total power generation. They are also the main source of air pollutant emissions. A large number of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) are produced in coal combustion, which are toxic gases in various forms. In recent years, with the more strict environmental protection policy, coal-fired power plants have been urged to carry out ultra-low emission renovation work.
PhD student Xu Ke and Prof. Ren Wei from the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering established a startup named LaSense Technology in November 2019, and have designed and developed a real-time, calibration-free and ultra-sensitive (sub-ppm) gas sensing and control system, which can meet the requirements of the simultaneous measurement of NOx and NH3, in order to meet the urgent market demand from the energy industry. The system will be used in the denitration process control to improve the denitration capacity and efficiency of the power plant, and to achieve the source prevention of air pollution as well. The system also combines multiple technologies including self-developed automatic feedback control, artificial intelligence algorithm, advanced chip integration and wireless data transmission.
The team has received the Entrepreneurship First-class Award of the 6th Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition organized by the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association.
