Two SOx Conferences Sept 9-13

This week simultaneous conferences in India and the U.S. will address reducing SO2 emissions from power plants and other sources. The Indian attendees need much of the information being discussed at the U.S. conference. This is because India is likely to install more dry scrubbers than exist in the U.S.  A number of companies will have attendees at both conferences e.g. Carmeuse, Envea, and GE.

DSUA Pre Conference Alert

There is still time to register for the upcoming September`9-12 DSUA conference in Kansas City  http://www.dryscrubberusers.org/ 

A webinar was held last Thursday to preview DSUA and also a conference in India being held at the same time.  You can view the recording at  LINK TO DSUA/SOX NOX INFO AND RECORDING

Gerald Hunt, DSUA president, was the lead speaker Thursday. He provided a DSUA conference preview. He said more than 100 people have registered and more are expected. As can be seen from the agenda below there is lots of time for discussions and personal contact. 

Gerald Hunt, Manager, Flue Gas Treatment Applications at Lhoist North America, Inc

Even for those who are attending the conference, the ability to ask questions of and analyze the presentations of the speakers is enhanced by the knowledge from previous conferences.  An important paper on maximizing SDA performance was given by John Kersch of NAES in 2003.   For the conference Thursday he submitted this paper with the following comments

“Reducing lime usage has been a big money saver for the plants. That has been accomplished by a combination of operating on approach temperature control using dewpoint measurement and better automation of the system, so we don't over scrub.  Sharing this information with other plants in the same boat is the real value of the Dry Scrubber Conference. You benefit from somebody else's testing or trial and error to solve common problems. The attached PowerPoint is probably one of the better ones that highlights a project we did with Primex.”

Also displayed was the 2018 DSUA presentation on predictive diagnostics for atomizers by Ken Rogers of Omega Atomizers. It is an example of how data in DSUA archives can be valuable for new initiatives.

 http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/07-2018-Failure-Modes-Predictive-Diagnostics-for-Atomizers.pdf

 DSUA will be a three day conference. Here is the agenda.

•        Monday (9/9)

•        Pre-conference golf tournament (sponsored by Carmeuse)

•        Welcome reception (sponsored by RPM Solutions)

•        Tuesday (9/10)

•        Keynote Talk by Donnie Duffee (American Electric Power Welsh Station Plant Manager)

•        Technical sessions (8 technical papers/plant reports)

•        Break-out sessions

•        Performance Optimization

•        Scrubber Maintenance

•        Particulate & Filtration

•        Breaks and meals sponsored by Mississippi Lime Company, National Filter Media, Omega Atomizers, Primex Process Specialists

•        Evening networking event at Top Golf (sponsored by Evonik, Industrial Accessories Company, Integrated Global Services, Lhoist)

•        Wednesday

•        Morning (Plant Tours)

•        Kansas City Power & Light Hawthorn Station – Spray Dryer Absorber

•        Kansas City Power & Light Iatan Station – Spray Dryer Evaporator

•        Kansas City Board of Public Utilities Nearman Creek Station – Circulating Dry Scrubber

•        Afternoon (Plant Tours and Social activities)

•        Plant tours at Iatan and Nearman Creek

•        Social Activities (sponsored by National Filter Media)

•        Evening Vendor Exhibiting

•        Thursday (9/12)

•        Technical sessions (8 technical papers / plant reports)

•        Break-out sessions

•        Pebble Lime & Hydrated Lime

•        Corrosion & Erosion

•        Atomizers & Injectors

•        Breaks and meals sponsored by Carten/Fujiken, Duromar, Graymont

•        Evening closing reception

Exhibitors

Babcock & Wilcox

B&W has been involved with SDA from the 1970s. It partnered with Niro Atomizer for the first SDA systems.  In the last few years it has offered a combination of DSI and SDA to provide sufficient calcium to remove SO2 from higher sulfur coal combustors.  As one of the leading suppliers of coal fired boilers worldwide, the company can provide integration with the combustion process as well as solids and water treatment. Kevin Redinger will be speaking on the success of SDA systems.   Personnel: Kyle Hamilton, Courtney Rosekelly.

BHA Alair LLC-Parker

BHA was the pioneer in third party supply of filter bags.  It was a leading supplier of bags as an independent company.  Its reach was extended with the purchase by GE. Its subsequent purchase by Clarcor provided synergies including the ability to offer all the filters for a plant as part of an ongoing service.  The acquisition of Clarcor by Parker further expanded the potential. Personnel: Michael Johnson, Connie Williams.

BWF Envirotec, USA

BWF Envirotec claims to be the world's leading supplier of filter bags to the power generation market.  A search in the fabric filter newsletter shows that Hans Dietrich of BWF was the most frequently quoted bag expert in the early days. Many success stories are also available in the newsletter and intelligence system. As both a needle felt producer and bag fabricator, BWF Envirotec has the unique ability to match the gas stream characteristics with the properties of the needle felt ensuring maximum bag performance. In addition the standard services offered by BWF Envirotec and the Environmental Services team are: baghouse maintenance service, change-outs, retrofits, and mechanical inspections.  Personnel: Larry Brown, Matt Devitt.

Carten/Fujiken

The Japanese based company is a major supplier of slurry valves for SDA systems.  Bill Beirne has actively participated in discussions at DSUA conferences on how to best maintain the valves for this application.

Duromar Inc.

Dan Toft was president of DSUA two years ago.  The company provides linings for dry scrubber systems and other products and is active worldwide from its U.S. base.

Envea

This international company acquired Altech in the U.S. and is providing instrumentation and CEMS for dry scrubber systems world-wide.  Other Envea people will be simultaneously exhibiting at the SOx-NOx in India. Personnel: Malek Hattar, Dean Kotecki.

Evonik

Evonik’s P84® is a unique, multi-lobal polyimide fiber providing superior filtration efficiency and increased bag life for over 20 years. P84® has a proven track record of reducing operating costs and increasing reliability of dry scrubbing systems for coal-fired power plants, bio-mass power plants, and MSWI plants around the world while meeting the most stringent particulate emissions requirements. Evonik experience, services, and products assist power plants in overcoming common challenges, like high pressure drop, elevated emissions, loss of production, and high maintenance costs. Personnel: Nate Schindler.

FLSmidth

The AFT group supplies bags and is a major supplier to power as well as cement plants. Catalytic filters with catalyst embedded into the glass fiber media are also offered.  This combination reduces both particulate and NOx.  A higher temperature version offered in combination with Haldor Topsoe also allows maximum heat recovery.  Catalytic filters with DSI are now common in the glass industry. Personnel:  Shan Bell, Roger Ruble.

Gecko Robotics

Using high quality ultrasonic testing probes, inspectors utilize robots to gather thickness data around the complete surface of the scrubber. Robots move at speeds up to 12” per second and adapt to any direction needed to navigate the vessel by adhering to the scrubber magnetically, removing the need for costly scaffolding. Personnel: Michael Paul Jenkins.

Hadek Protective Systems

Borosilicate  glass block lined stacks from Hadek are used extensively in power plant stacks around the world. An example is the Sadara plant in Saudi Arabia, which includes GE semi dry scrubbers for  6 x 80 MW oil and gas fired boilers. Personnel: Gary Gerba.

Integrated Global Services

Buildup and corrosion can lead to inefficient SDA operation, jeopardizing reliability, increasing lime usage, and creating safety hazards. IGS offers both air cannons and High Velocity Thermal Sprayed (HVTS) Claddings to help combat SDA inefficiency and maintain the safety and reliability of equipment. Personnel: Andrew Klein.

National Filter Media

The company has been supplying bags for combustion applications for many decades. It has been active in DSUA and has some unique corrosion resistant bag support technologies tailored to SDA.  Personnel Rick Gondeck, Keith Ogilvie.

Omega Atomizers

The company has been a long-time supplier of atomizers and parts. At DSUA Ken Rogers gave a paper and atomizer prognostics which is referenced above.

Primex Process Specialists

Ted Heron and Stewart Nicholson will be participating.  Stewart is a founder of DSUA and has been a yearly contributor. The paper by John Kersch of NAES described above shows the achievements which can be made when an operator teams with Primex to make operations more cost efficient.

RPM Solutions

RPM  designs atomizer wheels, atomizer nozzles, upper wear rings, lower wear rings, drive plates, and other dry scrubber system components that are specifically engineered to provide long life and reliability in these harsh environments. Personnel: Shawn Veurink.

People to Meet

Burns & McDonnell
Paul Brandt will be making a presentation on the CDS at East Kentucky Power.  The firm is pursuing power consulting projects around the world. Paul was a participant in the pre-conference webinar

Carmeuse

The company has been involved in the supply of lime for FGD in the U.S. since 1970. It was Dravo Lime at the time. It supplied lime and system support for wet lime systems.  It expanded with the advent of Dry FGD and supplies both hydrated and quick lime for dry scrubbing and DSI. It has invested heavily in research over the years and has unique solutions for SO2 and SO3 capture.  There was detailed Carmeuse analysis in Insights - September 4, 2019  Personnel:  Scott Fraley

GE

GE will be well represented with four attendees. The company can claim the world’s first FGD system (wet limestone 125 MW, Union Electric, start 1968). For dry FGD the unique NID system is offered. If you search Coal Fired Power Plant Decisions (CFPPD) under NID you find 110 articles including detailed descriptions of Brayton Point, Indian River, and Homer City.  A recent project is Sadara in Saudi Arabia on oil fired boilers There are a number of systems around the world including 5000 MW in China.
 

CFFD has more than 1000 relevant articles about their activities but you need to access not only GE, but Alstom, ABB, and originally Combustion Engineering.  We asked Rita Mordini about the benefits of NID and she supplied the following list

·       High efficiency

·       Low water consumption

·       Simple/compact/modular design

·       Zero liquid discharge

·       Low CAPEX

·       High reliability

·       Excellent turndown

·       Low project lead time

·       Low lifecycle cost

·       Multipollutant solution

·       No stack modification required

GE also have over 20,000 MW of SDAs operating on US coal-fired utility boilers with technology options of either Rotary Atomizers or Dual-Fluid Nozzles.

GE Rotary Atomizer uses the centrifugal force of a high-speed rotating disc to atomize the reagent slurry. This technique allows maximum energy efficiency and high unit capacity. Individual atomizers are designed to treat the flue gas from units up to over 150 MW of boiler output. Multiple atomizer units treat over 450 MW of boiler flue gas in a single reactor. These systems can be designed to meet short averaging without affecting SO₂ removal capability during periods of atomizer maintenance.

Also, GE has developed a patented, propriety approach for the disposal of power plant and other industrial wastewaters via direct evaporation utilizing Spray Dryer Evaporator (SDE) technology. Compared to existing, competitive Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) solutions, the SDE technology offers potential benefits in terms of lifecycle cost, performance, and operational simplicity.

The four registrants are Vic Adamson, Mark Barber, Rita Mardini, and Jiangtian Zhang

Lhoist

Jerry Hunt of Lhoist is president of DSUA.  The company is involved in supply of  FGD Lime around the world.  there was special coverage of their activity in the most recent Insights  Insights - September 4, 2019.  In addition to Jerry, Ian Saratovsky will be at the conference.

Solaft

Extended surface area star bags are being used to advantage in plants on several continents. A speech on the subject will be given by Brad Currell

Dry Scrubber Market paper will be basis of discussion

Bob McIlvaine was scheduled to present the last paper in the three day session but due to a schedule conflict will not be able to do so.  His paper is found at http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Dry_Scrubber_Market_DSUA_Paper.pdf

The paper has been circulated and already has created a number of questions, One was how the U.S. lime estimates were made. One resource is the plant by plant Utility Tracking System database with the following  data

plant name:  Springerville
    epa unit id:  1
    new owner:  subsidiary of UniSource
    parent utility:  UniSource
    utility name:  Tucson Electric Power Co.
    state: AZ
    county:  Apache
    size MW:  424.8
    future plans:   
    plant startup:  1985
    fuel specific:  blend PRB/local coal
    alternate fuel:  none
    boiler type:  Pulverized Coal Dry Bottom
    boiler manufacturer:  ABB Combustion Engineering
    plant architect:   
    cooling type:  recirculating with induced draft cooling towers
    lat degrees:  34.5778
    long degrees:  -109.2717

    Operating Hours  8407

   MM BTU   27.7 million

fgd startup: 1985

fgd supplier: Joy/Niro

fgd changes to original: upgrade B&W 2004

fgd reagent: lime

fgd process: spray dry

fgd survivor company: Babcock & Wilcox

fgd process efficiency: 80%

The forecast does take into account the consumption in the smaller dry scrubber applications in waste to energy, cement, steel etc.  However the consumption per plant is low One other variable is plant closures but this does not appear to be a significant factor through 2025.

SOx-NOx India  Pre-Conference Alert

It is not too late to register  http://soxnox2019.missionenergy.org/ 

The program was summarized by Mr. Dalvi in our Insights Insights - August 27, 2019

The booming market in India is analyzed at Dry Scrubber Market will grow to $5 billion/yr.

The paper being presented at DSUA addresses the Indian market and predicts that 160,000 MW of FGD systems  are in planning and construction in India. The 60,000 MW of dry systems for older smaller plants is still in the planning stage with only 1000 MW ordered.  http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Dry_Scrubber_Market_DSUA_Paper.pdf

All the FGD technology is being supplied by international companies. Some companies also have Indian subsidiaries. However, most of the orders are being booked by local Indian companies with international  licenses.

Keep Current on New Developments and Meetings around the World

Conference coverage is an important function of 44I Coal Fired Power Plant Decisions

Coal Fired Power Plant Decisions will be used by R&D to assess product opportunities, engineering to select components, and for promotion to end users.

It will be used by sales to contact customers and validate the lower cost of the company products. 

The tracking system 42EI Utility Tracking System with the weekly Alert and identification of every coal fired plant is invaluable to your sales force and can be used in promotional campaigns

It is important for top management to have accurate forecasts.  These are contained in the market reports on FGD and Scrubber/Adsorber for those serving the dry scrubber market. Other reports cover each type of air pollution system. Several reports cover water and wastewater. The valve, pump, and IIoT report also have coal fired forecasts. These reports are detailed enough to assign quotas to sales people and if they have access, the feedback is very valuable  http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets