Power Air Quality Insights No

· “Materials for Corrosion Prevention in Power Plant and Boiler APC Systems”

· The Market for Catalytic and Thermal Treatment Will Grow to $22 Billion Next Year

“Materials for Corrosion Prevention in Power Plant and Boiler APC Systems” is “Hot Topic Hour”

Preventing and controlling corrosion has always been a challenge for power plant designers and operating personnel. Corrosion occurs in virtually every component of the typical coal-fired power plant from the material handling systems, the boiler and ducts to the auxiliary systems for heat recovery and the SCR, scrubbers, ESPs and baghouses for pollution control all the way to the stack as well as the wastewater treatment system. Corrosion is both a chemical process and a physical mechanism. The chemical composition of the coal (chlorine and sulfur content) and additives to control pollution and wastewater affect the potential for corrosion. The distribution of gases in ducts as well as temperature, water content and particulate load contribute to mechanical flow corrosion caused by abrasion and build up of corrosive materials in a specific place in a duct or vessel.

Over the years, many methods have been developed to fight corrosion. These include a variety of new materials for ducts, liners, tubes and even pumps and valves, flow modeling and duct designs to minimize flow corrosion and injection of chemicals to control acid gases. Perhaps the single most important issue is to initially select the correct material for each application based on the environment that it is expected to operate in. During the last decade, FRP composites have become very popular for use in scrubbers, tanks, pipe and stack liners because of their inherent resistivity to acids and lower cost compared to exotic metals. However, with the cost of FRP polymers going up and with the price of oil expected to continue rising in the future, is FRP still the best choice? Are metals, ceramics or glass now a better choice? Which material is best for each specific component in each air pollution control device?

The following speakers will discuss the latest developments in materials for corrosion prevention or reduction from the boiler through the stack at a typical coal-fired power plant with a focus on selection of materials based on plant specific site conditions, capital cost, maintenance and life time. Speakers may also provide an update of the current developments, on-going testing or performance of installations of corrosion resistant materials or new technology being developed at their respective companies.

Doug Reinke, VP Sales & Marketing for Augusta Fiberglass (AFC), will discuss the supply of FRP and dual laminate process equipment to all major process industries. Over the last ten years, innovative equipment delivery methods have been developed and refined to enable large FRP and dual laminate equipment to be supplied to the power industry. The solutions have benefited the power industry with safer and faster installations and better corrosion resistant equipment that saves schedules, budgets, on-site work hours and life cycle costs. Doug will review these delivery methods and applications.

Debajyoti (Deba) Maitra, Product and Application Development Engineer at Huntington Alloys Division of Special Metals Corporation, will present "Accelerated Crevice Corrosion of Duplex Stainless Steels in Wet Limestone FGD Environments." A variety of steels and alloys have been used in the construction of wet FGD air pollution control systems ranging from duplex and austenitic stainless steels to highly alloyed grades of nickel-base corrosion-resistant alloys. Many absorber vessels constructed of duplex stainless steel have experienced severe corrosion, often after less than one year of operation. This attack was explored and both laboratory and field tests were conducted. Localized corrosion, especially under mineral deposits, was detected and evaluated. Samples of several grades of stainless steels and alloys were exposed in an operating scrubber vessel to determine their response to the conditions experienced in the FGD system. While the attack of the duplex steel continued, super-austenitic stainless steels and some nickel-base alloys were found to be resistant. It is also likely that contaminants in the coal may be accelerating the corrosion.

Lake H. Barrett, Sales Manager for Sauereisen, will discuss both tried and true as well as state of the art corrosion resistant solutions for the protection of concrete and steel structures in today’s power generation stations. His presentation will incorporate both organic and inorganic technologies and cover solutions utilized across the globe in air pollution control systems.

To register for the “Hot Topic Hour” on August 9, 2012 at 10 a.m. Central Time, click here:

On Thursday at 10 a.m. Central time, McIlvaine hosts a 90 minute web meeting on important energy and pollution control subjects. Power webinars are free for subscribers to either Power Plant Air Quality Decisions or Utility Environmental Upgrade Tracking System. The cost is $125.00 for non-subscribers. Market Intelligence webinars are free to McIlvaine market report.

	DATE		Non-Subscribers Cost		SUBJECT		Webinar Type
August 9, 2012		$125.00		Materials for Corrosion Prevention in Power Plant and Boiler APC Systems		Power
August 16, 2012		$125.00		Report from Coal-gen (highlights of speeches and exhibitions)		Power
August 23, 2012		$125.00		Report from Mega Symposium (highlights of speeches and exhibitions at this important air pollution conference)		Power
August 30, 2012		$125.00		Pumps for Power Plants, Boilers and Water Treatment Facilities Combined Cycle Plants		Power
September 6, 2012		$125.00		Production of Fertilizer and Sulfuric Acid at Coal-fired Power Plants		Power
September 13, 2012		$125.00		Instruments and Technology for On-line Boiler Monitoring		Power
September 27, 2012		$125.00		Coal-fired Boiler Optimization		Power
October 11, 2012		$125.00		Air Preheaters & Heat Exchangers		Power
October 18, 2012		$400.00		Instrumentation for air, gas, water, liquids (forecasts, market shares, growth segments)		Market Intelligence
October 25, 2012		$125.00		Cooling Towers and Cooling Water Issues		Power
November 1, 2012		$125.00		FGD Scrubber Components		Power
November 8, 2012		$125.00		Dampers and Expansion Joints for Coal-fired and Gas Turbine Power Plants		Power
November 15, 2012		$125.00		Catalyst Selection for NO_x and Other Gases		Power
November 29, 2012		$125.00		Boiler Feed and Cooling Water Treatment		Power
December 6, 2012		$125.00		Co-firing Sewage Sludge, Biomass and Municipal Waste		Power
December 13, 2012		$125.00		Update on Oxy-fuel Combustion		Power
January 10, 2013		$125.00		Material Handling in Coal-fired Power Plants		Power
January 17, 2013		$125.00		Gypsum Dewatering		Power
January 24, 2013		$400.00		Filter media (forecasts and market drivers for media used in air, gas, liquid, fluid applications, both mobile and stationary)		Market Intelligence
January 31, 2013		$125.00		Valves for Power Plants, Boilers and Water Treatment Facilities		Power

The Market for Catalytic and Thermal Treatment Will Grow to $22 Billion Next Year

The markets to oxidize pollutants from stationary and mobile sources will grow more than 8 percent in 2013 to $22 billion. This is the latest forecast in the McIlvaine report, Thermal/Catalytic World Air Pollution Markets published by the McIlvaine Company.

There are three market segments. One is mobile sources, another is stationary engines, and the third is industrial processing. In general, all the technology involves ensuring oxidation either through temperature increase or a combination of more modest increase in the presence of a catalyst. The advent of NO_xregulations has introduced another principle labeled reduction. A nitrogen compound such as urea reacts with NO_x to form elemental nitrogen and water.

The forecasts also include the particulate filters necessary to minimize soot. This forecast includes the NO_x reduction from mobile sources but not the NO_x reduction from industrial processing which is included in another McIlvaine report.

Industrial processors have four equipment options. One is conventional thermal treatment. Another is catalytic treatment. A third equipment type is labeled regenerative thermal oxidizer. The big advantage of this approach is heat recovery. A fourth type is a hybrid which incorporates both the catalyst and the regeneration.

The industrial market not including replacement catalyst will generate revenues of just over $2 billion next year.

Asia, with its industrial expansion, will be the continental leader with purchases of just under $900 million.

The mobile market will benefit from a rebound in vehicle sales and tightening regulations. A number of countries have adopted schedules for phasing in PM emission standards for heavy-duty diesel engines that are likely to require advanced after treatment to meet the relevant national standard. In the Americas, Brazil’s PROCONVE P7 standards beginning in the 2012 model year are likely to require advanced after treatment. Urea consumption for the heavy truck market in Brazil will grow substantially from a disappointing total of around $15 million this year.

Russia has adopted standards based on EURO IV starting in the 2010 model year and standards based on EURO V in the 2014 model year. In the Beijing area, China adopted standards equivalent EURO IV in 2008, and has proposed adoption of EURO V- equivalent standards in 2012. In addition, several countries that have applied for membership in the European Union will adopt EURO standards if accepted.

Platinum and palladium prices are expected to increase this year as a rebound in U.S. automobile sales boosts demand for the metals used in catalytic converters. Rhodium prices which slumped 38 percent in the past twelve months are predicted by some analysts to increase 62 percent to $2,000 an ounce by the end of 2013.

The stationary engine market will grow robustly in the next few years led by the U.S. Nearly one million existing, stationary diesel engines are affected by new federal air quality rules, in addition to more than 300,000 gasoline, propane and natural gas engines, including thousands of engines in the Hawaiian Islands.

The new RICE National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) rules affect engines used for generators, pumps, compressors and other common plant equipment. The requirements’ full compliance date is May 3, 2013 for diesel (CI) engines and October 19, 2013 for gasoline and natural gas (SI) engines.

§ “Mercury Control and Removal Status and Cost” is Hot Topic Hour on August 2, 2012

Biogas plants are gaining in popularity. As shown in the last article from McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Update so much so that one manufacturer is building a new manufacturing plant.

Weltec Biopower started building one of Germany’s largest biogas plants in Arneburg, Stendal District, Saxony-Anhalt. At this plant, about 6 million m³ of biomethane (more than 700 m³/h) will be produced every year in four fermenters, six digestate storage units, and one liquid reservoir and will be fed into the natural gas grid.

“This biogas refinery, which will start feeding in its first biomethane in December 2012, will create about ten permanent jobs and two training positions,” says Jens Albartus, Director of Weltec Biopower GmbH.

The sustainability concept of the plant that is being erected on a site of about 6 hectares provides for the use of renewable raw materials and manure from 30 farms. Among other things, it was made sure that the farmers who will also use the digestate do not need to travel more than 9 miles, on average, to deliver the substrate.

The biogas will undergo amine treatment. The generated biomethane will be sufficient to supply about 5,000 households with power and heat or 4,200 cars with an annual mileage of about 18,000 miles.

Apple plans to power its Maiden, NC, data center with biogas. The facility will consist of 24,200 –kW alternating current all-electric fuel cell systems.

The fuel cells use methane produced by animal waste, and converts that to electricity. Apple’s installation will be built by California’s Bloom Energy, and it will be the largest such fuel cell installation built outside of the utility industry

Waste Management opened northern Nevada’s first and only Gas-To-Energy power plant at its Lockwood Landfill, which will use landfill gas produced onsite to generate electricity. The project will create enough renewable energy to power more than 1,800 homes.

When organic materials, like food and yard waste, decompose, they create a gas comprised of about 55 percent methane. Collection wells placed all over the site collect this gas and then pipe it to the power plant, where it is used as a fuel to run two generators. The project, which went online in March, will offset the use of about 700 railcars’ worth of coal.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (SRCSD) have begun construction of a co-digestion facility as part of the region’s renewable energy efforts. The facility will provide a new local disposal option for wastes such as fats, oils, grease (FOG) and liquid food processing waste.

SMUD and SRCSD received approximately $1.45 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the United States Department of Energy and $100,000 in matching funds from the California Energy Commission to help construct the facility at the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (SRWTP) in Elk Grove. The remainder of the project will be funded by SRCSD. The construction cost of the FOG receiving station is approximately $2.1 million.

The project will increase the production of biogas already being produced at SRWTP by injecting waste materials directly into the digestion system, bypassing initial steps that are currently depleting the energy value of the waste. The additional biogas captured will be used by SMUD to generate renewable energy at SMUD’s Consumnes Power Plant located in southern Sacramento County.

2G CENERGY Power systems Technologies Inc., a 2G Energy AG Group Company, announced that it received more U.S.-based orders during the past few months than during the entire fiscal years of 2010 and 2011 combined. Based on that significant development 2G decided to establish a U.S. production facility in St. Augustine, FL, where it will start to produce its advanced biogas combined heat and power (CHP) clean energy conversion systems for all North and South American markets. The decision is considered to be a major component of the company’s overall U.S. strategy to enforce its customer service commitment, further increasing its competitiveness, and rapidly growing its American customer base.

2G-CENERGY in return saw an increase in sales and was selected as the supplier of choice for a multitude of new projects between 250 kW and 3 MW. The 2G Group effectively transformed the gained momentum from highly-satisfied customers after 2300 installed biogas CHP systems, into new sales to private and public organizations in the United States. Most of these projects are at dairy and livestock farms, municipal waste management facilities, as well as wastewater treatment plants and organic waste disposal sites in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, California and the Carolinas.

The company purchased a 60,000-square-foot facility in the St. Augustine Interstate Commercial Park, located at the I-95/CR-20812 intersection, as well as the adjacent lot for future expansion. The 10-acre site is perfectly located. With the new plant, 2G will bring about 125 new jobs to the area, and will add a significant number of career opportunities in related sectors. This decision will also raise the overall 2G Group production capacity in anticipation of solid growth and increased demand for advanced thermo-dynamical, output-optimized biogas cogeneration CHP modules, with a high degree of electrical and thermal energy efficiency. The production capacity for this new facility will be gradually increased.