Power Air Quality Insights No

· “Mercury Control and Removal Status and Cost” – “Hot Topic Hour” August 2, 2012

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

Unless the final versions of the Utility MACT or MATS and the Industrial Boiler MACT are dramatically and unexpectedly revised, the limits for mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired boilers will be very low. So low that it is questionable whether or not the required reductions can be achieved in all cases given the constraints imposed by reducing other pollutants simultaneously. Many believe that it may also be very difficult to measure mercury reliably and accurately determine and prove what removal efficiency is actually being achieved.

Because of the considerable interest in this subject, we held Hot Topic Hours in March and April where ten speakers discussed new ways to control mercury and to measure it. However, we could not accommodate all of the people desiring to participate, so we are holding a third session this year.

The following speakers will help us understand the current situation relative to the control of mercury from coal-fired power plants. We would like speakers to address the impact of MATS on power plant operators; the key issues to be considered when developing a strategy to achieve compliance with MATS; the current status of and new developments relative to the injection of activated carbon and other materials for mercury removal; the multi-emission control technologies available and under development with their applicability, capabilities and limitations and present other alternatives available to achieve compliance with the expected regulations.

Dr. Behrooz Ghorishi, R&D Director for Albemarle’s Environmental Division, will present “Innovative One-Step Production of Albemarle’s Concrete-Friendly^TM Activated Carbon.” The flyash generated from coal combustion is virtually identical in its composition to volcanic ash and is ideal for concrete use. The economic benefits of using flyash to replace a fraction of the cement in concrete include increased revenue from the sale of the ash and reduced costs for flyash disposal. The main concern for power plants that sell their flyash for cement replacement is that those powdered activated carbons (PAC)-based sorbents used for mercury control make the flyash incompatible with concrete. PAC adsorbs the air-entraining admixtures (AEAs) that are added to the concrete slurry. These surfactants enable incorporation of the precise amount of air bubbles needed to create the air voids required for concrete workability and freeze-thaw capabilities. Albemarle, using an innovative one-step process, produced and commercialized a Concrete-Friendly^TM mercury sorbent, C-PAC^TM, which is currently used in several power plants across the U.S. This presentation will provide technical information on the production and use of C-PAC.

Kyle Neidig, Manager of SCR Catalyst Products at Hitachi Power Systems America, will discuss the mercury co-benefits of Hitachi’s catalyst design. As MATS imposes new stringent mercury emissions limits for coal-fired generators, utilities must adapt by either adding additional AQCS equipment or by modifying the operation of their generating units to improve the performance of their existing AQCS equipment in order to achieve Mercury Co-Benefits and MATS compliance. Many utilities will be asking their SCR and catalyst to do more than ever before to help meet these new challenges. Hitachi continues to develop new catalyst that not only enhances the performance of the SCR, but also helps to minimize the cost impact of compliance with the new mercury emissions limits. In addition to NO_xcontrol, the SCR is now being used as a mercury co-benefit control device thanks to advancements in the mercury oxidation capability of Hitachi’s catalyst design. These catalyst improvements present significant cost savings for compliance by either reducing or eliminating the need for new air pollution controls on utility coal-fired generating units.

Jonas Klingspor, Vice-President of Business Development at URS, will discuss the Gore/URS mercury control technology. This technology utilizes a fixed bed technology installed after the mist eliminator and has some interesting characteristics: It is not sensitive to mercury speciation, not sensitive to the concentration of mercury, does not rely on injection of activated carbon or bromides, does not contaminate flyash, has a lifetime of between three to nine years between replacement, has a very low pressure drop, and achieves 90 percent plus mercury removal and 60 percent SO₂ removal.

To register for the “Hot Topic Hour” on August 2, 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 2, 2012		$125.00		Mercury Control and Removal Status and Cost		Power
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

Sales of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems will exceed $7.6 billion in 2013. This is the latest forecast in FGD World Markets published by the McIlvaine Company. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

The forecast includes both wet and dry scrubbing processes which remove sulfur dioxide from power plant exhaust stacks. It does not include revenues for scrubbers used in conjunction with industrial boilers using coal combustors to generate steam for process uses. It also excludes scrubbers used to remove sulfur dioxide from the stacks of vessels burning bunker and other high sulfur fuels. (Forecasts for these industrial markets are included in a separate report.)

Over 60 percent of the market next year will be in East Asia. The majority of the sales in this region will be to power plants in China. Most of the Chinese sales will be for new power plants, but there will also be some retrofits to old power plants without FGD. China has more scrubbers than any other country but also more power plants without scrubbers than any other country.

There is competition among technologies. Wet scrubbers using limestone and making wall-board quality gypsum as an end product will be the most popular. Dry and semi dry systems using lime will carve out a significant but minor share. In the U.S., dry injection system revenues will be substantial. These lower capital cost systems will be purchased for older power plants where the higher operating cost is preferable. Many of these power plants may be retired in the next ten years, so the expense over the remaining lifetime will be much less than if the expected life were twenty-five years.

World Region	2013
Africa	451
CIS	0
East Asia	4,846
Eastern Europe	343
Middle East	109
NAFTA	1,122
South & Central America	0
West Asia	108
Western Europe	626
Total	7,605

Sulfur, sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate and other products can be produced with SO₂ scrubbers. There will be relatively small numbers of these systems purchased. The opportunities will be limited to sites where there is a nearby consumer of the product.

· July 19 Webinar Concluded that Coal is still the Major Fuel for Electricity Generation

· “Beneficial Byproducts of Coal Combustion and Gasification” is “Hot Topic Hour” on July 26, 2012

Large scale wind projects are often in the news and little attention is focused on the small scale projects which also have a role to play. Information on these can be found in McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Update.

WEPOWER Ecolutions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier Holding Corp., an energy service provider and integrator of clean-energy solutions (WEPOWER), is proud to announce its installation of the WEPOWER Ecolutions Falcon 12kW Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWTs) to 3rd Street Hydroponics, located in Oakland, CA.

"Our alternative energy solutions are helping all types of businesses go green and become energy efficent. From traditional to alternative businesses, such as Sean Taylor's 3rd Street Hydroponics retail shop near the Oakland BART station at 800 Madison St., consumers are discovering how to produce their own electricity with wind power," said Kevin Donovan, CEO of WEPOWER Ecolutions Inc. "With the recent installation of our Falcon 12 kW Vertical Axis Wind Turbine at Mr. Taylor's retail store near BART, over 12 million travelers per year can see our clean energy solutions at work."

Earth Day will be extra special this year for hair-care manufacturer Zotos International Inc. as the company celebrates the largest wind project of any manufacturer in the United States and meets its goal of using 100 percent renewable energy for its electrical needs.

Zotos' 3.3 MW on-site, wind energy project, which powers its 670,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Geneva, is a first in the beauty industry. The project is comprised of two 1,650 kW wind turbines.

Zotos is a wholly owned subsidiary of global cosmetics leader Shiseido Co. Ltd. that manufactures hair-care and styling-aid products under the Zotos, JOICO, ISO, and Senscience brand names, among others.

The company's wind project is expected to meet nearly 60 percent of the Geneva plant's power needs. To achieve the plant's goal of using 100 percent renewable energy for its electrical needs, Zotos recently entered into an agreement to purchase up to 9 million kWh of green energy.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Zotos' project is the largest wind project of any manufacturer in the U.S. It's also the first wind project of its kind in Ontario County, NY, and the largest private industrial wind plan in New York State. The 2009 federal stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), covered 30 percent of the wind project's costs.

Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc. announced that it has generated repeat business for its wind-powered, water pump system in South Park County, CO, at a ranch owned by Lance Brinkley.

Mr. Brinkley stated that he is "most definitely" happy with the operation of the first wind powered, water pump system delivered by Mass Megawatts, and plans to purchase a second, larger-scale unit on his ranch. Both the current and future water pumps will be used for the delivery of water to cattle and to also create a small pond on his property.

Efforts to dig the new well hole for the larger wind-powered, water pump are expected to commence over the next two weeks. The new unit is expected to pump 30 to 50 gallons of water per minute at a cost that is well below other traditional water pumping systems. The Mass Megawatts' wind-powered unit provides a low-cost solution for water pump applications commonly needed on farms, including irrigation and for the delivery of water to livestock in remote locations that are off the power-grid.