52 Companies Buy 52 Percent of All the NOx Control Reagents Purchased by
Stationary Sources
Sales of NOx control reagents for coal-fired power plants will reach $3 billion
in 2016. This represents 75 percent of the reagents which will be purchased for
stationary applications. Seven companies will account for 44 percent of the
purchases by coal-fired power plants and 33 percent of the purchases by all
stationary sources.
NOx Control Reagent Purchases
# Of Corp SCR/SNCR Capacity For Each
MW x 1000 Total MW 1000 % of Total
Coal-fired Installed Base Reagent
Purchases
$ Millions % of Total
$26
Billion Examples
7 Over 50 575 44 1,320 33 Big 5 Chinese Corp
10 10-50 150 12 360 9 AEP, TVA, Duke, Enel, EON
15 5-10 105 8 240 6 NRG, Xcel, Tokyo Electric, Chubu Electric
20 3-5 80 6 180 4.5 AES, EPDC, RWE, CEZ
52 Sub total 910 70 2,100 52
350 0-3 390 30 900 22 U.S., Europe, China
404 Total 1,300 100 3,000 74
Operators of coal-fired power plants inject nitrogen compounds in one form or
another into the exhaust gas to react with the NOx. The result of the reaction
is nitrogen and water. This process reduces up to 95 percent of ozone and smog
producing NOx.
The nitrogen compound formulation is largely determined by economics and safety
considerations. The least expensive compound is anhydrous ammonia. It is
routinely used by farmers but does create safety hazards if not handled
carefully. Aqueous ammonia includes enough water to minimize safety concerns but
adds a cost to the process. Solid urea can be delivered to the power plant and
converted to ammonia on site. This option requires investment in capital
equipment.
Typically, power plants near cities opt for alternatives to anhydrous ammonia
while those in rural areas use the lower cost option. China has chosen the use
of urea with on-site conversion for most of its power plants. It has the most
NOx control installations, so its selection has reduced the dominance of
anhydrous.
The 5 largest Chinese suppliers are among the top 7 NOx system operators in the
world. These 7 companies will buy 44 percent of the NOx control reagents in
2016. The next 10 companies, most of whom are U.S.-based, will account for 12
percent of the reagent purchased by power plants and 9 percent of all the
reagent purchased by stationary sources.
The concentration of the reagent purchases into this small group of companies
means that suppliers can sell directly throughout the world. There are purity
differences in ammonia and other reasons that suppliers can provide value beyond
purchased cost. McIlvaine has developed a program to help suppliers focus on the
large purchasers. Detailed Forecasting of Markets, Prospects and Projects.
This program combines the following:
N035 NOx Control World Market
42EI Utility Tracking System
59EI Gas Turbine and Combined Cycle Supplier Program
Industrial Air Plants and Projects
The Market for Mercury Removal Will Be Growing Robustly In the Next Decade
Recent estimates of annual global mercury emissions from both natural and
anthropogenic sources are in the range of 5,000 to 8,000 metric tons per year.
These estimates include mercury that is re-emitted.
The U.S. EPA analyzed the harm from mercury and came to the conclusion that
reduction expenditures as high as $30,000 per pound would be warranted. On this
basis the potential market for mercury removal would be $300 billion per year.
However, the cost of removal of some mercury will be as low as $1000/ton. The
cost is related to efficiency of removal. So, if only 60 percent of the world’s
mercury or 3,000 tons per year were eliminated, the cost would be closer to
$5,000/ton so the annual market would be $15 billion/yr. This is the conclusion
reached by the McIlvaine Company in Mercury Air Reduction Markets.
The market is presently well over $1 billion per year. U.S. coal-fired power
plants are accelerating their expenditures to meet the new air toxic regulations
which will be enforced from 2016 forward Most waste incinerators around the
world are removing mercury.
Most mercury expenditures are justified by the reduction in environmental harm.
However, some segments of the market are driven by other considerations. The
natural gas industry needs to remove mercury to protect equipment and pipelines.
Mercury is present in many natural gas streams. While mercury levels can vary
greatly, even low levels must be removed to avoid damage to downstream
equipment. Current methods for removing mercury from natural gas and condensate
use fixed beds of mercury removal materials. There are three types of materials:
sulfur impregnated activated carbon, metal sulfides or oxides on an alumina
carrier, and silver impregnated molecular sieves. Carbon-based sorbents are the
most commonly used, but the trend is towards a greater use of metal sulfides in
order to remove higher concentrations of mercury and for occupational safety and
environmental reasons.
The market for mercury removal adsorbents is primarily a function that the
amount of natural gas produced and the average concentration of mercury in the
gas. However, the concentration of mercury in natural gas varies greatly from
region to region, from a low of 0.02 µg/Nm3 in the Gulf of Mexico to 300 to 400
µg/Nm3 in Southeast Asia. Consequently, the largest natural gas producing
regions are not necessarily the largest markets for mercury removal products.
There is a large current investment in LNG facilities in South East Asia. It is
estimated that mercury reduction processes will account for 1 percent of the
capital investment. Expenditures for equipment and replacement sorbents for
natural gas from all sources will exceed $150 million/yr. in the short-term and
will increase at more than 6%/yr.
China is the largest growth market. There are scrubbers on more than 800,000 MW
of coal-fired capacity. The potential market in coal-fired power generation is
four times larger than the U.S. market. China also has five times the cement
capacity as the U.S. A large potential market is coal gasification. To put it in
perspective China’s coal consumption just for gasification will equal 10 percent
of the U.S. coal-fired generator coal consumption. Since this gas must be
pipeline quality, the mercury removal expenditures will be very substantial. The
likely technology to be employed is carbon beds similar to those installed by
Eastman Chemical in a coal-to-chemicals plant in Tennessee.
For more information on Mercury Air Reduction Markets, click on:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/85-n056
Military Welcomes Solar Installations
The Alabama Public Service Commission gave its approval for Alabama Power to
build a 10.6 MW solar facility at Anniston Army Depot and a 10.6 MW solar
facility at Fort Rucker. Alabama Power awarded Strata Solar the engineering,
procurement and construction contract for these projects. Installation is set to
begin in the first quarter of 2016.
Mississippi Power is collaborating with three solar energy businesses and the
U.S. Navy to build 105 MW of utility scale solar electric generating farms at
three different locations in the company’s service territory. For one of the
three projects Mississippi Power, Hannah Solar and the U.S. Navy are partnering
on a 23 acre, 3-4 MW solar project to be located at The Naval Construction
Battalion Center (Seabee Base) in Gulfport.
McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Updates keeps the reader informed of
upcoming renewable energy project.
For more information on Renewable Energy Projects and Update please visit
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/Renewable_Energy_Projects_Brochure/renewable_energy_projects_brochure.htm
McIlvaine Hot Topic Hours and Recordings
McIlvaine webinars offer the opportunity to view the latest presentations and
join discussions while sitting at your desk. Hot Topic Hours cater to the end
users as well as suppliers while the Market Updates cater to the suppliers and
investors. Since McIlvaine records and provides streaming media access to these
webinars there is a treasure trove of value only a click away. McIlvaine
webinars are free to certain McIlvaine service subscribers. There is a charge
for others. Hot Topic Hours are free to owner/operators. Sponsored webinars
provide insights to particular products and services. They are free. Recordings
can be immediately viewed from the list provided below.
DATE UPCOMING HOT TOPIC HOUR UPCOMING MARKET UPDATES
December 3, 2015 NOx Reduction
Decision guide to selection of SCR and SCR systems, ammonia injection, reagents,
catalysts for power plants refineries, incinerators, chemical plants and other
applications.
Click here to register
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You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=5.
Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext. 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com