Power Air Quality Insights No

Power Air Quality Insights
No. 111 June 13, 2013

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· Huge NO_xControl Program in China will Boost Catalyst and SCR System Sales

· “Dry Sorbent Injection and Material Handling for APC” is the Hot Topic for June 20, 2013

Chinese utilities will be starting up more than 45,000 MW of new coal-fired boilers per year in China over the next seven years. This will result in coal capacity exceeding 1,100 GW. The new capacity will be equipped with SCR. This prediction is made by the McIlvaine Company in its NO_x Control World Markets report. To view the impact on the world market, it is beneficial to view the present installed coal-fired power plant SCR capacity. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

World Installed SCR Capacity MW
World Region	2013
TOTAL	490,824
Africa	0
CIS	0
East Asia	240,838
Middle East	550
NAFTA	184,206
South & Central America	0
West Asia	0
Europe	65,230

The present world capacity of coal-fired power plant SCR is less than 500,000 MW. East Asia is already the largest region with 240,000 MW. China is the leader, followed by Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The U.S. program is slowing down. Sixty-five percent of the capacity already has SCR and there are conflicting regulations which are impeding further additions. Most European power plants already have SCR. The exception would be Eastern Europe. But compared to China, the coal capacity in Eastern Europe is small.

Some of the oil-fired boilers in the Middle East are being fitted with SCR. Gas turbine power plants in the U.S. and certain other countries are also being equipped with SCR. But the total yearly addition of SCR for turbines is relatively small compared to coal-fired power plants. Waste incinerators, cement kilns and various furnaces will also purchase SCR systems. However, SNCR is widely used as an alternative. Many power plants have no NO_x control. Even in the aggregate, the total of SCR for kilns and furnaces will be small compared to the Chinese coal-fired power plant expenditures.

The Chinese program will exceed that of any other country or even the EU, NAFTA or any region. For more information on NO_x Control World Markets, click on:

Suppliers of scrubbers, absorbers, adsorbers and biofilters will generate revenues of $7.5 billion in 2017. This is the latest forecast in Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

Industry	2017
Chemical	883
Electronics	191
Food	229
Incinerators	1,746
Metals	909
Other Industries	1,089
Pulp & Paper	358
Surface Coating	794
Wastewater	1,346
Total	7,545

The largest investment will be for wet and dry scrubbers to capture the emissions from incinerators. This includes those which burn hazardous waste, garbage and commercial and industrial waste. Municipal wastewater plants purchase scrubbers and biofilters to remove the odors and to capture sewage sludge incinerator emissions.

There are many different applications where scrubbers are used to capture particulate, acid gases and odors. One of the biggest short-term potential segments is the capture of SO₂ from the stacks of ships. Many large vessels use high sulfur bunker fuel. New regulations will prohibit these ships from entering ports without being equipped with systems to capture the acid gases.

Another big potential is to remove HCl from industrial boiler exhausts. The U.S. has promulgated regulations limiting these emissions. The forecasts do not include the scrubbers used for SO₂removal at large coal-fired utilities. The reason is that the utility market is as large as all the industrial applications combined. It is, therefore, analyzed separately.

Lime and sodium compounds are typically used to neutralize and capture acid gases. Suppliers of these reagents are among the biggest beneficiaries of the expanding market. Suppliers of polymers and other water treatment chemicals are benefiting from the wastewater treatment needs. Scrubbers are also used to capture mercury using bromine compounds. This benefits Chemtura and other worldwide suppliers.

Solar power shines, setting a new all-time high output of 2,071 megawatts (MW) at 12:59 p.m., on June 07, 2013. This amount of energy is enough to power more than 1.5 million homes across sunny California.

“This new record is remarkable considering the amount has more than doubled since last September when solar peaked at 1,000 megawatts,” says Steve Berberich, California ISO President and CEO. “We are excited by this trend and expect to hit more record peaks on a regular basis.”

California is the largest producer of solar power in the nation. Today’s peak demand was about 36,000 megawatts and solar power supplied more than five percent of demand for electricity.

Coalition of Renewable Energy Companies Established to Advocate for a Level Playing Field for Clean Energy

Leading renewable energy companies from across the country announced they have formed a coalition to advocate for equal treatment between clean energy and fossil fuels that would allow average Americans to invest in renewable energy projects in the same way they do oil and gas projects. The coalition, called Financing America’s Investment in Renewables (FAIR), supports a change in the law that currently allows oil, gas, coal and other “natural resources”-based energy projects, but not renewable energy projects, to use master limited partnerships (MLPs), a business structure that facilitates investment in qualifying projects. Such a change has been proposed in the bi-partisan Master Limited Partnerships (MLP) Parity Act recently re-introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate.

The MLP Parity Act, which was introduced jointly by Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), would give investors in renewable energy projects access the decades-old, tax-advantaged MLP structure that is currently available to investors in fossil fuel-based energy projects. An MLP is a business structure that is taxed as a partnership, but whose ownership interests are traded on an exchange like corporate stocks. This provides the state and federal tax benefits of a partnership with the liquidity of a publicly traded company. While MLPs have generated the abundant and affordable capital that has built the nation’s modern oil and gas infrastructure, renewable energy assets are not currently eligible to use the MLP structure.

The FAIR Coalition believes that the MLP Parity Act is not intended to be a substitute for the Production Tax Credit or the Investment Tax Credit, but could create a complement to those credits as part of a long-term renewable energy tax policy.

The bill would classify income earned from renewable energy sources as “qualifying income,” thus extending the MLP structure to clean energy resources and infrastructure projects. Specifically included are a broad range of renewable energy resources and technologies that are described in sections 45 and 48 of the tax code, including wind, closed and open loop biomass, geothermal, solar, municipal solid waste, hydropower, marine and hydrokinetic, fuel cells, and combined heat and power systems. The legislation also allows for a range of renewable transportation fuels to qualify, as well as certain energy-efficient buildings, electricity storage, carbon capture and storage, renewable chemicals, and waste-heat-to-power technologies.

DTE Energy has filed an amended renewable energy plan with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) that proposes to lower the monthly surcharge paid by residential customers to 43 cents from the current $3.

DTE Energy's plan calls for an overall reduction of all customer electric rates — both business and residential — of nearly $90 million per year. In addition, the amended plan continues to achieve full Renewable Portfolio Standard compliance each year through 2029, although the projected number of megawatts (MW) needed to achieve compliance has been reduced to 950 from 1,000.

The rate reduction follows significant efforts by DTE Energy to keep electric service affordable. The company, Michigan's largest electricity supplier and the largest investor in renewable energy in the state, has led its peer electric utilities in controlling operating costs. Between 2007 and 2011, for example, DTE Energy has seen a 1 percent drop in operating costs, compared with an industry average of a 23 percent gain.

"We've experienced lower costs to build our own wind energy parks, as well as for contracts to purchase power," Dimitry said. "Contributing to that have been technology improvements that have led to better wind and solar energy production, as well as federal production tax credits that have offset our costs."

DTE Energy has reached 92 percent of its 950-MW goal with either operating projects or those under contract. DTE Energy expects to invest about $1.3 billion to achieve its 10 percent goal during the 20-year program.

Landsvirkjun, Iceland’s national power company, announced a new independent study conducted by BroadGroup Consulting, which reveals that Iceland is well positioned to become an international datacenter hub. The study results show unique advantageous clean energy reserves, low power prices and solid infrastructure that make Iceland a highly attractive location for datacenters.

Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, Executive Vice President for Marketing and Business Development at Landsvirkjun says, “Iceland’s power proposition is to provide economic advantages with the most competitive energy prices in Europe through fixed-rate, long term contracts. Our ample renewable and secure power resources offer differentiating opportunities for global sustainable business development.”

Iceland power costs can be halve those in Scandinavia, and significantly more competitive than other European countries. Its power costs remain very likely to stay significantly lower than other countries, particularly given the opportunity to cap such prices for ten years or even longer for Greenfield projects.

Power reliability and quality are extremely high. Iceland has a long history with a key group of power-intensive users already — aluminum smelters. Such users, including global leaders such as Rio Tinto and Alcoa, can have requirements of >400 MW and have expanded its sites in Iceland due to the strong reliability and availability.

Furthermore, power in Iceland is 100 percent renewable. Iceland is one of few countries in Western Europe with large quantities of competitively priced, renewable carbon neutral electricity. Setting Iceland apart from most countries, it produces electricity using exclusively hydropower, geothermal energy and onshore wind. These are sustainable, environmentally “green” resources with minimal carbon trade-offs. This makes it an ideal location for addressing corporate responsibility considerations.

“With datacenter costs closely linked to power prices, and power accounting for typically 20-40 percent of operating costs, it is not surprising that the availability of power ranks highly in the choice of location with an investment decision based on a period of at least 15 years,” commented Steve Wallage, Managing Director of BroadGroup Consulting.

At recent international Executive Committee meeting of Ocean Energy Systems (OES) in Guangzhou, the Chinese hosts announced their intention to deploy a 200 kW horizontal-axes turbine in the Pacific Ocean (East China Sea).

This project, being developed by Harbin Engineering University, is just one in a series of ocean energy projects that are being deployed along the coast of China with support from national R&D funding programs. It is part of the National Plan for Islands Protection to use marine renewable energy to improve the sustainability of remote islands.

The first 100 kW wave energy unit of the 500 kW demonstration project on Dawanshan Island, by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, was deployed on April 17, 2013. A 120 kW wave buoy developed by Shandong University has been operational nearly half a year operating off Hailv Island and a 10 kW wave device developed by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion has been operational for 5 months near the Wanshan Island.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the difference in temperature between deep water and surface water to generate power. It not only provides power but also clean drinking water and food. OTEC is another key area for development in China and a 15 kW pilot plant was tested for 5 months in 2012.

In the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Development of Marine Economy (2011-2015) the development of marine renewable energy is regarded as one of the key components of the emerging blue economy.

Through Ocean Energy Systems (OES), China is working with 20 other countries in collaborative research, development and demonstration of conversion technologies to harness energy from all forms of ocean renewable resources. These include tides, waves, currents, temperature gradient and salinity gradient for electricity generation. China has been a member of OES since 2011.

“Dry Sorbent Injection and Material Handling for APC” is the Hot Topic for Thursday, June 20, 2013

The new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) recently promulgated for U.S. coal-fired power plants as well as the Industrial Boiler MACT rules focus on removal of HCl, mercury and particulates in the presence of SO₂. Some power plants, especially newer ones, can escape significant capital expenditures because they have efficient particulate control and SO₂ removal devices in place. They can add bromine to the coal and rely on the scrubber to remove the mercury and the HCl. Older power plants that have up to four years to meet compliance requirements face a greater challenge. Operators of these power plants really need to address the economics of adding controls for HCl, mercury and particulates versus closing the power plant. Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) can be an effective, low cost, multi-pollutant control solution that can help these power plants meet or even exceed their MATS and CSAPR emission limits and postpone the decision and the retirement of some of these coal-fired power plants.

DSI is a process in which a powdered sorbent material such as Trona (sodium sesquicarbonate, a naturally occurring mineral mined in Wyoming), sodium bicarbonate, hydrated lime or activated carbon is injected into the flue gas from fossil fueled boilers to control SO₂, HCl, H₂SO₄ and more recently mercury. Advantages of DSI include lower initial equipment costs as well as decreases in operation and maintenance costs.

However, DSI is not as simple as it may appear. The relationship between various acid gases and other controlled gases in the flue gas can be very complex. DSI can also have an impact on the performance of other existing control equipment and vice-versa. Careful study is necessary to select the sorbent and sorbent particle size that will achieve control goals at the lowest operating cost. Study is also necessary to determine how the sorbent will affect or be affected by other emission control equipment installed.

Selection of the correct delivery system components is also critical. Dry materials can solidify and plug critical conveying tubes and injection devices. And to obtain the lowest sorbent usage (and usually cost), the sorbent particle size needs to be appropriate to the flue gas conditions and the sorbent needs to be uniformly delivered to the gas stream.

The following speakers will address design considerations and operating results of dry sorbent injection for the control of SO₂ and HCI, including sorbent selection and injection technologies, discuss how to develop the optimal injection strategy based on the power plant configuration and required emission reduction targets, provide suggestions for reducing acquisition, installation, operation and maintenance costs while improving efficiency and update us on new technology or designs under development to improve the performance and reliability of DSI systems.

Clayton (Clay) Erickson, PhD, General Manager and Vice President of Environmental Technology at Babcock Power UK Limited, will discuss mixing and flow modeling techniques used to improve DSI performance. Over the past several decades, increased environmental limits on emissions from fossil fuel-fired power stations have resulted in a variety of flue gas cleaning applications. One of the major chemical processes in these applications is the reaction of acid gases in the flue gas with a reagent to neutralize the acid gas. While the application of gas-gas static mixers in the design of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) for DeNO_x is well proven, several areas of recent work with powder-gas mixing such as DSI for SO₂/SO₃/HCl control and Powder Activated Carbon (PAC) for mercury control are the focus of this presentation. This presentation will provide both a scientific review of mixing and flow modeling principles and full scale DSI results obtained from recent projects.

Bobby I.T. Chen, Client Program Manager, Integrated Emission Solutions, Environmental & Infrastructure at CB&I, will present “EMOTM+HL, Total MATS Compliance Solution.” There are critical reasons to enhance mercury oxidization using CB&I's technology because controlling mercury (Hg) emission from the coal combustion process is best achieved through a two-stage process. The first stage is to promote the mercury oxidization at the combustion chamber outlet. The second stage is to provide a means of absorbent to capture the oxidized mercury. On numerous of CB&I’s field EMO trials, EMO has been proven to achieve 90 percent plus Hg oxidization, thus facilitates the downstream AQCS Hg control efficiency. Furthermore, EMO was found to be the most cost-effective way of controlling stack Hg.

Keith Day, Business Development Manager for Nol-Tec Systems Sorb-N-Ject Technology, will discuss "Gen 3" Material Handling for ACI systems.

Charles S. Alack, President of Semi-Bulk Systems, Inc., will address “Dry Sorbent Handling and Injection into the Scrubber and/or Direct into the Furnace for Hg and SO₂Removal.” He will review options for applying the VACUCAM® Ejector Mixer processes for efficient slurry production of lime or limestone powders for slurry feed to scrubbers. The technology also offers processes to accommodate other dry chemicals required for scrubber treatment. Processes for handling dry sorbent and chemical injection for removal of Hg and SO₂from direct in-furnace treatment systems will also be introduced.

Jim Gilmour, Environmental Systems & Services Product Manager for Sorbent Injection Systems at Siemens, will discuss some of the critical variables affecting the performance of sorbents for control of acid gases and mercury emissions from coal-fired boilers to achieve compliance with MATS regulations. He will also discuss the selection of sorbents and review some of the important system requirements.

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
June 20	Dry Sorbent Injection and Material Handling for APC	Power
June 27	Power Generation Forecast for Nuclear, Fossil and Renewables	Market Intelligence
July 11	New Developments in Power Plant Air Pollution Control	Power
July 18	Measurement and Control of HCl	Power
July 25	GHG Compliance Strategies, Reduction Technologies and Measurement	Power
August 1	Update on Coal Ash and CCP Issues and Standards	Power
August 8	Improving Power Plant Efficiency and Power Generation	Power
August 15	Control and Treatment Technology for FGD Wastewater	Power
August 22	Status of Carbon Capture and Storage Programs and Technology	Power
August 29	Pumps for Power Plant Cooling Water and Water Treatment Applications	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