Power Air Quality Insights No

Power Air Quality Insights
No. 117 July 25, 2013

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· Decisive Validation Is the Route to Better Decision Making In the Developing World

· “New Developments in Air Pollution Control Technology – Part 2” is the Hot Topic Hour on Thursday, August 1, 2013

Hundreds of large new coal-fired power plants comprising 480 units and 1,410 large environmental retrofit projects are active in China. These projects have all been identified in the McIlvaine Chinese Utility Plans.

New coal-fired power plants in next four years	480
Retrofit new FGD to older power plants	130
Upgrade old FGD systems	105
SCR retrofits	1,000
NO_xupgrades	175
Total	1,890

Over the next four years, China plans to install 480 new coal-fired boiler units. All of these systems will have FGD and DeNO_x controls. Most will be supercritical large boilers of 600 MW. Those in arid areas will use dry cooling.

China plans to add FGD for 50,560 MW (130 units) of coal-fired units in service, the upgrade of 42.670 MW of coal-fired units which have FGD facilities but fail to reliably meet the standard (105 units), and the construction of DeNO_x facilities for 400,000 MW (1,000 units) of coal-fired units in service and upgrade of 70,000 MW (175 units) of coal-fired units with low NO_x systems.

In addition to these major projects, there are thousands of smaller projects. There are large numbers of projects to improve automation and efficiency. There is a focus on better measurement of emissions.

International suppliers are participating in a number of different ways. Those with superior components are finding that there is a market for their products even with the extra costs associated with import. Other suppliers are building factories in China serving not only the Chinese market but other countries in Asia. Both Alstom and Babcock & Wilcox are extensively involved in the Chinese market, as are the Japanese power plant equipment suppliers.

A number of the Chinese suppliers of FGD systems have large reference lists. Chinese precipitator manufacturers out produce their international competitors.

Sales of air pollution control systems using thermal treatment will be just under $2 billion in 2014. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in its Thermal/Catalytic World Air Pollution Markets. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

Subject	2014
Catalytic Oxidizer	447
RCO	78
RTO	943
Thermal	503
Total	1,971

These forecasts do not include any stationary engine CO or NO_x reduction systems. No mobile applications are included. The largest product segment will be the regenerative thermal oxidizer. It will account for nearly half the 2014 sales.

The regenerative thermal oxidizer was invented by a small company in the 1980s. This company was sold several times and is presently part of Durr. Suppliers of regenerative thermal oxidizers have two origins:

· Suppliers of pollution generating equipment such as dryers and painting systems (Durr, Eisenmann, and Megtec).

· Suppliers of other air pollution control equipment such as catalytic oxidizers and scrubbers (CECO).

The regenerative thermal oxidizer has a higher capital cost than a catalytic oxidizer or a simple thermal oxidizer but consumes less energy (at least when there is little fuel value in the contaminant stream). A simple flare is used when the fuel value is high.

The suppliers of systems purchase key components such as the saddles or other fill material. They also purchase or manufacture the dampers which are an important component. System suppliers generally furnish control systems of their own design with DCS or PLC systems supplied by companies such as Emerson, ABB and Yokogawa. Normally the continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) are not purchased by the RTO customer but directly by the operator. CEMS systems suppliers include Thermo Fisher, B&W (KVB Enertec) and Horiba.

The installed cost of an RTO system in 2012 U.S. dollars is approximately $30 per cfm. Larger applications range to 100,000 cfm. There are a number of suppliers of small systems for soil remediation. These units are often rented for a year or six months rather than sold.

Decisive Validation Is the Route to Better Decision Making In the Developing World

It is easy to buy the lowest cost product. It is very challenging to select the best product with the lowest life cycle cost. The buyer has to evaluate supplier claims. This is difficult and made even more difficult in developing countries where there are language problems and lack of experience.

There has been no organized system to help the buyer make the necessary evaluations. In contrast, the buyer can be assured that the supplier will adhere to quality management standards in the manufacture of the product through ISO 9000 and other ISO standards.

Decisive Validation is a process which will make it easy for the buyer to make the best purchasing choices. It involves a whole system with a decisive classification sequence. At each step along the way there is a decisive classification of the options and validation that the supplier product is the right choice.

An example of purchasing options for NO_x reduction is displayed in the McIlvaine Global Decisions Orchard

In addition to the conventional SCR and SNCR, there are three other options presented including ozone injection, hydrogen peroxide injection and the use of a catalytic filter. It is shown that the disadvantages of the chemicals are the operating cost, whereas, the disadvantage of the catalytic filter is lack of experience.

Each application is unique. In the case of the chemicals, it is necessary to show that in a specific application the cost of the chemicals will be more than offset by the lower capital cost. In the case of the catalytic filter, there is the need to show that there is ample commercial experience to satisfy the purchaser.

Decisive Validation with independent third party analysis using niche experts is the way to provide convincing evidence.

An additional challenge is to communicate the validation results to the purchaser. If his native language is Chinese, then the essence of the results along with the decisions sequence need to be provided in Chinese. The Global Decisions Orchard is a mechanism to make these results known.

Validation costs can range widely. However, when the benefits of validation are compared to those for conventional sales efforts it is clear that validation should be a major undertaking. One example of the benefits of validation is the white paper on use of single use vs. reusable surgical gowns.

Hospitals were leaning toward reusable gowns with the belief that they were greener. An extensive analysis showed that the water use and contamination aspects of reusables outweighed the greenhouse gases resulting from single use gown manufacture.

For more information on Decisive Validation contact Bob McIlvaine at: rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com or call 847 784 0012 ext. 112.

RES America Developments Inc., a subsidiary of Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES Americas), a leader in the development and construction of wind and solar projects in North America, is pleased to announce it is working with Xcel Energy to construct the 200 megawatt (MW) Pleasant Valley Wind Farm. The project is near Austin, MN, adjacent to the Grand Meadow wind project owned by Xcel Energy.

RES Americas will continue its role as developer and constructor of Pleasant Valley. Once the project is complete, RES Americas will transfer ownership of Pleasant Valley to Xcel Energy, who will own and operate the project. The development and construction schedules remain on track to be completed by the end of 2015, with development activities into 2014 and plans to break ground in mid-2014.

Pleasant Valley Wind Farm is part of 600 megawatts of wind power recently announced by Xcel Energy in its Upper Midwest service territory. Following a request for proposals in February, Xcel Energy selected Pleasant Valley and two other projects to submit to regulators for review. Xcel Energy submitted the projects to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and the North Dakota Public Service Commission for consideration and notified regulators in South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Combined, the projects will produce enough energy to serve 180,000 homes and over the lives of the projects, lower customer costs by $180 million. At the same time, the projects will reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 million tons each year in Xcel Energy's Upper Midwest service territory, where the company already is on track to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

Gehrlicher Solar America Breaks Ground on 3 MW Solar System on Scituate Landfill Site

Gehrlicher Solar America Corporation, in cooperation with Main Street Power Company Inc., an owner and operator of solar assets, MS Solar Solutions Corp., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, project developers Syncarpha Capital and Brightfields Development, LLC along with the town of Scituate, MA, celebrated recently with a groundbreaking ceremony of a 3 MWp solar system.

The Scituate solar array has a peak capacity of 3 MWp and is comprised of 10,560 solar panels and five inverters which together with the 1.5 MWp wind turbine project commissioned in March 2012, makes of Scituate, MA, the first town in Commonwealth 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

In early 2013, Gehrlicher Solar America Corp. opened a regional office in Boston, MA, to support its rapidly expanding New England market. To date, Gehrlicher Solar America Corp. has completed 16 MWp of projects in Massachusetts and has additional 62 MWp under construction and development.

Atlas Copco won a second major order in Turkey to deliver equipment for two renewable energy million geothermal power plants. The order value is circa $23 million (MSEK 150).

Çelikler Jeotermal Elektrik Üretim A.Ş., a company active in sectors such as construction, mining and energy, chose Atlas Copco’s Gas and Process division to deliver four geothermal power trains with a total gross capacity of 80 MW.

Two of the power trains, which include expander generators, are for expansion of a power plant project near Pamukören, Turkey, where Atlas Copco is already supplying equipment. The additional two units, also including expander generators, will be installed at a new site near the town of Sultanhisar. The order was booked in the second quarter.

The two plants will generate electricity using the Organic Rankine Cycle, a promising technology in the growing geothermal energy sector that converts fluids into vapor. The generator trains will deliver some 500 GWh of baseline renewable energy per year, enough electricity to power around 61 000 households.

CALMAC Brings Energy Storage to DklT Leveraging First Large Commercial On-Campus Wind Turbine

CALMAC, a leader in energy storage systems, announced the installation of its IceBank® energy storage tanks at the Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) in Ireland. CALMAC’s tanks are being used to successfully store energy from the first-ever large commercial on-campus wind turbine in the form of ice, which is then used the next day to cool students and faculty in the historical and architecturally protected PJ Carroll building. In 2012 alone, the wind turbine equipped with energy storage was able to produce 1,440 MWh, 79 percent of which was consumed by the university and the remaining sold back to the grid.

Originally built in the late 1960’s as a cigarette factory, the 191,000-square-foot PJ Carroll Building is considered one of the finest examples of Miesien architecture in Europe. Approximately 118,000-square-feet of the facility were remodeled in 2010 as part of a college expansion project, which included the incorporation of CALMAC’s IceBank® energy storage technology. The tanks provided the perfect solution for making more efficient use of the variable supply of wind energy and capitalizing on previously underutilized wind turbine power generation, while protecting the architectural integrity of the structure. Today, the “urban turbine” is generating 40 percent of the campus’ electrical energy requirements.

New Energy More Than Doubles Patent Portfolio for Novel Technology Able to Generate Electricity on Glass Windows

New Energy Technologies, Inc., developer of the world’s first-of-its-kind, see-through technology capable of generating electricity on glass and flexible plastics, announced that the company has successfully achieved a total of 21 new patent filings for protection of its proprietary SolarWindow™ technology, more than doubling the portfolio in only 12 months.

“Our technology has the capacity to turn ordinary glass windows in America’s 5 million skyscrapers and commercial towers into power generators — a huge commercial opportunity,” explained Mr. John A. Conklin, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc.

Novel to the company’s technology is its ability to generate electricity on various surfaces when electricity-generating coatings are sprayed or otherwise applied at room temperature, thus lowering production costs and manufacturing time.

§ CESC pulls out of 1,320 MW South Africa Project, Valu Investments could Replace CESC

§ Export-Import Bank of US follows World Bank Lead and rejects Financing Proposal for Coal-fired Project in Vietnam

§ Combined Cycle Gas Turbine in Malženice, Slovakia, to be mothballed by E.ON

§ Peru eases SO₂ Standards in Three Cities so Refineries would not have to close

“New Developments in Air Pollution Control Technology Part 2” is the Hot Topic Hour on

In anticipation of the flood of new air and water pollution regulations affecting fossil-fueled power and industrial boilers as well as cement plants, the manufacturers of air pollution control systems and equipment have invested in improving existing systems and developing new technology. Driving this development was the need to achieve the low emission limits imposed by the Utility MATS, Boiler MACT and Cement MACT as well as pending CSAPR and proposed GHG rules, so that fossil-fueled boilers could remain economically viable. This required new approaches to improve the efficiency and reduce the operating cost of existing APC systems and reduce the capital and operating costs for new equipment designed to meet the limits.

The following speakers will describe the latest APC technology currently in use, undergoing beta testing or under development scheduled for commercialization in the near future. Discussion will focus on description of the technology, performance of the systems or equipment, emission reduction achieved and capital and operating costs.

Bobby I.T. Chen, Client Program Manager Integrated Emission Solutions, Environmental & Infrastructure at CBI.

Steven A. Jaasund, Manager of Geoenergy Products for Lundberg, will present “Wet ESPs for Improved Particulate Control.” The recently promulgated EPA MACT and MATS rules plus other impending regulatory mandates will require many industrial and utility operators to further reduce fine particle and HAP emissions. Wet electrostatic precipitation (ESP) has been proven to be an excellent, low-energy approach to this challenge. This presentation will explore the advantages wet ESP technology in this role.

Jean-Philippe FEVE, Ph.D., Director of Business Development at Neumann Systems Group, Inc., will discuss a process for recycling injected sorbents. The use of Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) is gaining popularity for control of SO₃, HCl and even SO₂ in utility and industrial applications. However, high removal rates of SO₂ can only be achieved at the cost of very high injection rates of sorbent, most of which leaves the system without reacting. Neumann Systems Group will present a new process that allows efficient recycling of the unreacted and otherwise wasted sorbent, thus enabling up to 60-80 percent savings in sorbent cost.

Jim Butz, Vice President of Product Management at Novinda, will present “Full-scale Plant Trials of Novinda’s Non-carbon Mercury Capture Reagent.” Novinda’s amended silicates is a non-carbon sorbent for capture of mercury from coal-fired power plants. A commercial production plant with 20 million pounds per year production capacity is now providing material for full-scale power plant field trials and long-term supply contracts. The presentation will focus on results from trials at power plants burning both eastern bituminous and western PRB coals and configured with multiple emissions control equipment options. Superior performance has been observed in power plants with dry scrubbers as well as with ESP/wet FGD systems.

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 Tracking System. The cost is $125.00 for non-subscribers. Market Intelligence webinars are free to McIlvaine market report subscribers and are $400.00 for non-subscribers.

	2013
DATE	SUBJECT
August 1	New Developments in Air Pollution Control Technology – Part 2	Power
August 8	Improving Power Plant Efficiency and Power Generation	Power
August 15	Control and Treatment Technology for FGD Wastewater	Power
August 22	Pumps for Power Plant Cooling Water and Water Treatment Applications	Power
August 29	Status of Carbon Capture and Storage Programs and Technology	Power
Sept. 5	Fabric Selection for Particulate Control	Power
Sept. 19	Air Pollution Control for Gas Turbines	Power
Sept. 26	Multi-Pollutant Control Technology	Power
Oct. 3	Update on Coal Ash and CCP Issues and Standards	Power