Revolution in decision making for power plant
scrubber projects
A variety of constantly changing factors make selection of the best flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, components, and services very difficult. A new service “FGD Decisions” now available from the McIlvaine Company greatly simplifies the task through a decision tree, sophisticated networking, and support intelligence.
The decision tree draws on all the world’s FGD information and not only presents all the choices from three trunks to the smallest branch, but provides support intelligence including access to conference papers and consultant expertise.
“This online system represents millions of dollars in investment and many man years of effort” according to Bob McIlvaine, president of the McIlvaine Company. “I left the scrubber supply business in 1974 to start an information service on FGD. Now some 31 years later, through the addition of the decision tree and a new networking concept, a service primarily for the experts is now transformed into an invaluable tool for the utilities themselves.”
The networking at conferences and exhibitions is being streamlined. Instead of the haphazard touring of stands by power plant operators, a number of planned discussions are arranged at the individual stands. Other general networking discussions ensure that those with the needs link with those which have the solutions. The first demonstrations of this concept are slated for Power-Gen Europe in Milan, Italy, Coal-Gen in San Antonio, and Power-Gen International in Las Vegas.
The system provides another major function which is to communicate the experience from each region of the world and allow the others to take advantage of it. According to McIlvaine, “There is a failure to capitalize on advances and improvements. The fact that Europeans use rubber lined steel scrubbers, the Americans use nickel alloys, and the Asians use resin lined steel is a good example of this failure to capitalize on experiences elsewhere.”
Another value is the acceleration of technical and commercial innovations. McIlvaine is the first to advise utilities to consider chloride pre-scrubbers for mercury control and HCl capture for resale of a byproduct.
Supplier experience is provided through listing of installations for system and component suppliers for more than 700 scrubber systems installed or on order worldwide
Still another value is the forum for debate of major issues such as dry vs. wet systems and lime vs. limestone.
More information on FGD decisions is displayed at: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/FGDdecbroch/Default.htm .
Bob McIlvaine
847-784-0012