February 2015 - Power Air Quality Insights 195

Four hundred papers were presented in two and a half days at EUEC in San Diego this week. There was quite a bit of new and valuable information available from the presentations and the exhibition stands. As in the past, the coverage of monitoring was extensive. However, this year the mercury coverage equaled that of monitoring. There were also good sessions on FGD, NO_x Control and Particulate.

There is still debate on the role of sorbent traps in mercury measurement. Should they be used for compliance or should the mercury CEMS be used for both process control and regulatory compliance reporting?

The era of particulate mass monitoring is about to begin. PCME is now a sister company of Altech and part of Environnment. They have a wet stack PM mass monitor which is in use by a number of U.S. power plants.

A number of approaches to HCl monitoring were discussed. ABB cites advantages of Cavity Enhand Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS) over TDL and FTIR. Both greater accuracy and lower maintenance are claimed. Cemtek presented data on successful use of TDL. CAI covered applications of FTIR in incineration, cement and power. MKS also weighed in on advantages of FTIR. Altech provided reasons for its choice of Tiger Optics Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-Down Specroscopy.

Cisco has more than 500 CEMS systems operating on gas turbine power plants and has won several recent awards for their designs.

Most of the FGD focus was on dry technologies. However, Andritz explained the advantages of FGD PLUS for wet scrubbing with limestone. IAC displayed a dry scrubber with a cyclone for capture and recirculation of the larger material prior to final filtration in a baghouse. A number of papers dealt with dry sorbent injection.

Prevention of mercury re-emissions was a popular topic. Andritz presented data on the use of activated carbon and the separation of the carbon/mercury from the gypsum by use of a hydrocyclone.

Dȕrr has teamed with Clear Chem to take advantage of the design whereby powdered limestone (less than 1 micron) is added in the furnace and eventually captured in a hot gas filter. This is a variation on the process described by McIlvaine last week. The powdered limestone could be in addition to DSI if higher efficiency is needed.

Hitachi explained that hot SCR is cost effective and allows the utilization of one large gas turbine for peaking purposes. The alternative multiple aeroderivatives is a much more expensive route.

Cayuga Power is using a series of 5 Gore modules to bring mercury emissions down below 0.6 lbs./MMBtu. The modules are situated above the mist eliminator section of the scrubber. Earlier tests with activated carbon were not too promising. So the plant decided on this technology even though there was not much commercial experience. After three months of operation, the unit is working well. Periodic spraying of the modules is needed to ensure that they stay clean, but this was anticipated.

The use of the Gore module after the scrubber makes economic sense for the following reason. If you have two technologies in series and each removes 70 percent, you achieve 94 percent removal. In this case, the high capital cost technology is the first in series. Consumables cost is not an issue.

Activated carbon could be used to obtain the first 70 percent removal and then the scrubber would capture 70 percent of 30 percent or an additional 24 percent reduction. The problem with this approach is the high cost of carbon. So you want the technology with the high consumables cost to be second and not first.

Activated carbon, silicates and kaolin were all touted as the best solution for concrete-friendly sorbents with high efficiency. Atlas Carbon is a new entry. The production facility will come online this year with an output of 16 million pounds followed by an expansion of another 32 million lbs. /yr. capability in 2016-2017. The pneumatic flash calciner technology should make the company the low cost producer, says the founder.

B&W says redesign of the rigid electrode to eliminate dead spots will improve efficiency and reduce back corona. SEI says that in most cases precipitators can be upgraded to meet the tough 5 mg/Nm³ limit. This is 40 percent less expensive than gutting the internals and replacing with bags. In the case of South African coals with very high resistivity, this is not the case. But the coals found in the U.S. are medium resistivity coals.

The URS approach of adding sorbents in the air heater and then reducing the air heater temperature has the double advantage of recovering heat and causing the precipitator to operate at higher efficiency.

McIlvaine interviewed several exhibitors relative to the need for tapes at the seams. National Filter Media has a tape and believes there are situations with fine dust and low emission requirements where it is needed. AFT says that their analysis of the cement industry shows that the tapes are not necessary. However, for lead, carbon black and certain other applications there would be a need to protect against emissions through the sewing holes.

HCl Scrubbing and Rare Earth Recovery from Coal-Fired Power Plants and Gasifiers are the Perfect Marriage

By using the hydrogen chloride in coal, the rare earths contained in it can be extracted in what the McIlvaine Company believes to be simply the marriage of two proven systems. This evaluation is contained in two McIlvaine publications, N043 Fossil and Nuclear Power Generation: World Analysis and Forecast and N027 FGD Market and Strategies.

The McIlvaine Company has been evaluating HCl scrubbers in coal-fired power plants. It has also been evaluating the economics of rare earth and metals recovery from the flyash produced by coal combustors and coal gasifiers. Using the two technologies in combination has not been previously addressed. However, McIlvaine concludes that they will unite in a perfect marriage which will reduce electricity costs, reduce environmental emissions and produce very valuable byproducts.

McIlvaine was involved in the original design of the HCl and SO₂ scrubbing systems provided by United Engineers to Philadelphia Electric in the 1970s. Since that date, a number of companies have designed and installed HCl scrubbing systems. Systems at waste-to-energy plants in Germany start with a water scrubber which quickly absorbs HCl and allows the SO₂ to pass through. The recirculated scrubbing liquid quickly reaches 30 percent hydrochloric acid. This percentage is maintained with a bleed stream of acid which is then purified and sold.

McIlvaine began publishing a newsletter on coal gasification in 1979. In the intervening decades, hundreds of gasifier systems have been installed around the world. China has embarked on a program which would make coal gasification a main source of gas and liquid fuels. There are several approaches to HCl removal. The E gas system has a separate HCl scrubber. McIlvaine also suggests that the GE particulate scrubber could be run at low ph and produce hydrochloric acid. So a two stage scrubbing system is already being used in the gasification process.

China is now mining flyash to recover large quantities of rare earth elements and metals. One of the leaching methods is with hydrochloric acid. Why buy hydrochloric acid when you can make it as part of the process? The schematic below is a way to marry both processes.

This schematic provides the mixing of HCl and flyash in a system which eliminates the first stage precipitator. It is therefore attractive for old coal-fired power plants in the U.S. as well as for new coal-fired power plants in China. It does incorporate a wet precipitator. Coincidently, this is the latest trend in China for other reasons (to meet tough new particulate standards).

Neumann Systems has a contract from DOE to extract REEs and metals in conjunction with a scrubbing system which it is installing at Colorado Springs Public Utilities. The proposed approach by McIlvaine differs by proposing that rather than buy acid, the power plant can make it. The HCl content does not have to be high. The first stage scrubber starts with water and then reaches equilibrium with 30 percent dirty acid. A portion is bled to maintain this percentage.

The advantages of using high chlorine coals would be that these coals are less expensive and the byproduct sales volume of acid will be higher.

With an EPA grant Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) and the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK/CAER) investigated REE extraction from flyash and concluded that the technology “has the potential to significantly reduce U.S. dependency for Rare Earth Elements (REE) on foreign suppliers.”

The Chinese believe coal flyash is already a very attractive source for REEs and are pursuing it aggressively. One reason is that the CO₂ emissions are 75 percent less than from extraction through mining. The coal is already in a powdered condition. Reducing an ore to a powder takes lots of energy.

This new approach would be more energy efficient than others and would be more cost effective. Since it is the marriage of two proven processes, the development effort will be minimal. The McIlvaine Company does not have any patents or proprietary interest in the technology. It serves industry in a consulting role part of which is to identify novel opportunities. For more information click on: N043 Fossil and Nuclear Power Generation: World Analysis and Forecast and N027 FGD Market and Strategies.

After four decades of selling knowledge systems to operators of power plants and others with environmental challenges, the McIlvaine Company is now offering these systems at no charge to the end users around the world.

The normal fees will be waived for owners and operators. The services include newsletters, free webinars and deep analysis of alternatives and other ways to provide the 4As: Alerts, Answers and Advancement.

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) announced that Apple has committed $848 million for clean energy from First Solar’s California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, CA. Apple will receive electricity from 130 megawatts (MW) AC of the solar project under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA), the largest agreement in the industry to provide clean energy to a commercial end user.

The 2,900-acre California Flats Solar Project occupies 3 percent of a property owned by Hearst Corporation in Cholame, CA Construction is expected to begin in mid-2015, and to be completed by the end of 2016. The output of the remaining 150 MW of the project will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric under a separate long-term PPA, and the project is fully subscribed between the Apple and PG&E PPAs.

Duke Energy has proposed several solar power programs to the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC) that will greatly expand options for customers to use renewable energy.

The programs must be approved by the commission before they can be offered to the company’s 720,000 Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress customers in the Palmetto State.

The programs will add up to 110 megawatts of solar energy by 2021. Currently, less than 2 megawatts of solar capacity is connected to Duke Energy in South Carolina. These are the company’s first wide-ranging solar programs in the state.

NJR Clean Energy Ventures (NJRCEV), the unregulated distributed power subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced that the Carroll Area Wind Farm, its second onshore wind project, has achieved commercial operation. The wind farm represents an investment of approximately $42 million and is located on 1,100 acres of rural agricultural land in Carroll County, IA, approximately 65 miles northwest of Des Moines, IA.

The Carroll Area Wind Farm consists of nine Siemens SWT 2.3 megawatt, 108-meter rotor diameter wind turbines that are 80-meters high, with a total capacity of 20 megawatts. The site will produce enough energy to power over 7,500 homes annually.

The project’s entire energy output, capacity benefits and renewable attributes, will be sold through a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with MidAmerican Energy, Iowa’s largest energy company.

Siemens Receives Order from Pattern Development to Supply Turbines for Wind Project in Texas

Siemens has been awarded another order from Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Development) to supply and install 87 wind turbines for the Logan’s Gap Wind project located in Comanche County, Texas, approximately two hours southwest of Fort Worth. The 200-MW project will create enough clean energy to power 50,000 homes in Texas annually. The project will feature Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbines, each with a power rating of 2.3 megawatts (MW) and 53 meter blades. Installation of the wind turbines is scheduled to begin this year, with the start of operations expected for fall of 2015. A service and maintenance agreement was also signed to help ensure the turbines operate at optimal levels.

Logan’s Gap is the fourth wind project in Texas owned by Pattern Energy Group, Inc. (Pattern Energy). The energy provided by these turbines joins Siemens current installed base of more than 1,200 turbines in Texas. Logan’s Gap represents the 12th project between Siemens and Pattern Development in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and South America. The nacelles for the project will be assembled at the Siemens facility in Hutchinson, KS. The blades will be manufactured at the Siemens blade facility in Fort Madison, IA.

Ormat Technologies, Inc. announced that the second phase of its McGinness Hills geothermal power plant located in Lander County, NV has begun commercial operation. Since February 1, 2015, the complex sells electricity under the amended Power Purchase Agreement with NV Energy at a new energy rate of $85.58/MWh with a 1 percent annual escalator through December 2032.

The second phase broke ground on March 2014 following resource confirmation and excellent performance of the first phase of McGinness Hills, which had been operational since June 2012. During the construction, the project has generated hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the United States. The support and cooperation of the utility, state, county and federal agencies is credited for the project coming on line and ahead of schedule.

The project received favorable project financing terms from the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program under section 1705 and a $140 million loan was drawn under the OFC 2 Senior Secured Notes in August 2014.

· Starwood Energy completes purchase of 550 MW Natural Gas-fired Power Plant in Texas

· Exelon Generation to develop 195 MW of New Electric Capacity in Medway, MA

· Siemens announces €175 Million Order for Malta Combined Cycle Power Plant

· Valmet to supply Flue-gas Cleaning and Condensation Plant to Tampereen Energiantuotanto's Naistenlahti Power Plant in Finland

· Interim used Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility plans announced by Waste Control Specialists

“Mercury Measurement and Capture” Will Be the “Hot Topic Hour” on February 26^th and March 5^th, 2015

We will be discussing conveying, corrosion, measurement and sorbents for removing mercury in the next two weeks. Should you use fuel chemicals, carbon sorbents or noncarbon sorbents? Should you use sorbent traps for compliance and mercury CEMS for process control? Lots is being learned as we near the MATS implementation date. Many of the speakers have been at EUEC this week. A number of new developments have been brought to our attention. We hope to incorporate them into the discussions.. Here is the speaker schedule:

Sheila Glesmann, Senior Vice President, Environmental and External Affairs, ADA-CS

Steve Feeney, Mgr./Nat'l. Sales/Aftermarkets, Babcock & Wilcox Power Generating Group

Jeremy Whorton, P.E., CEMS Product Manager- Americas, Air Quality Instruments, Thermo Fisher Scientific

On Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. Central time, McIlvaine hosts a 90 minute web meeting on important energy and pollution control subjects. These Webinars are free of charge to owner/operators of the plants. They are also free to McIlvaine Subscribers of Power Plant Air Quality Decisions and Utility Tracking System. The cost for others is $300.00 per webinar.

See below for information on upcoming Hot Topic Hours. We welcome your input relative to suggested additions.

DATE	SUBJECT	DESCRIPTION
February 26, 2015	Mercury Measurement and Capture	More Information
March 5, 2015	Mercury Measurement and Capture - Second Session
March 12, 2015	Power Plant Wastewater Treatment	More Information
March 19, 2015	Dry Scrubbing and DSI	More Information
March 26, 2015	NO_x(SCR, SNCR)