Boiler combustion air is generally controlled by the excess air content measured at the boiler economiser outlet using oxygen (O2) analysers. Due to duct geometry and dimensions, areas of high and low O2 concentrations in the flue gas duct occur, which poses a problem in obtaining a representative measurement of O2 in the flue gas stream. Multipoint systems as opposed to single point systems are more favourable to achieve representative readings. However, ash blockages and air leakages influence the accuracy of O2 measurement. The design of multipoint system varies across ESKOMs’ Power Stations. This research was aimed at evaluating the accuracy of the multipoint oxygen measurement system installed at Power Station A and to determine the systematic errors associated with different multipoint systems designs installed at Power Stations' A and B. Using flow simulation software, FloEFDTM and Flownex®, studies were conducted on two types of multipoint system designs This study established that significantly large errors, as high as 50%, were noted between the actual and measured flue gas O2. The design of the multipoint system extraction pipes also introduces significant errors, as high as 23%, in the O2 measured. The results indicated that the sampling errors introduced with Power Station A’s system can be significantly reduced by adopting the sampling pipe design installed at Power Station B.

Oxygen is used for medical treatment and general anesthesia. However, high concentrations of oxygen can have toxic effects on cells. In veterinary medicine, 100% oxygen is usually used during general anesthesia and it can be toxic to animals. However, there is little concern about its harmful effects in humans. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that using a high con- centration of oxygen increases the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (PaO2) more so than a lower concentration, by comparing PaO2 at three different oxygen concentrations (100%, 60%, and 40%) in six dogs under general anesthesia for 3 hours. The mean PaO2 and standard error values at the 100%, 60%, and 40% oxygen concentrations were 535.8 ± 24.01, 374 ± 17.19, and 239 ± 8.78 mmHg, respectively (p<0.05). These results show that 100% and 60% oxygen concentrations could increase oxidative stress. Further studies are needed to examine the oxygen concentration that causes toxicity.