May 2015 - FGD and DeNOx Insights 49

The required investment for a 1000 MW FGD system is $200 million. If the unit must be retrofitted to an existing power plant, the investment could exceed $300 million, so orders for 10 large systems can make a $3 billion dollar difference in the market.

The history of the industry includes large peaks and valleys. The peaks come as one country passes regulations which generate a large short-term market. There may be an interval until there is another significant regulation somewhere else.

New FGD system yearly peaks have been over $15 billion and valleys as low as $2 billion. This activity has been tracked for more than 40 years in FGD Market and Strategies. McIlvaine analysts have experience dating back to the first commercial FGD system at Union Electric in 1968.

The future markets for systems will continue to fluctuate. However, the market for operating and maintenance, including repair, will continue to increase at a steady rate. Sales of reagents such as lime and limestone continue to expand at rates well above GDP.

Many of the systems in the U.S. and Europe are more than 30 years old. New components are required regularly. Slurry valves and pumps are examples. Due to the corrosive and abrasive nature of the process, major equipment replacements are also needed. System suppliers such as B&W have recognized the market opportunity and have built a substantial aftermarket business.

A large market is developing to upgrade systems to meet tighter limits. The EU, U.S. and China are all forcing operators to upgrade the efficiency of existing units.

New technology will also play a big role in the future FGD market. Here are some of the developments:

· Two stage HCl and SO₂ scrubbing with use of the HCl scrubber to leach rare earths and metals from the flyash.

· One stop shopping with catalytic filter and DSI to remove all pollutants at one point.

· Activated carbon injection ahead of and in the FGD scrubber to remove mercury, prevent re-emissions, and ensure that the gypsum is mercury free.

· Use of chemical fixation instead of gypsum production to lower system costs and provide encapsulation of toxic metals (eliminates costly wastewater treatment).

· Continuing penetration of dry scrubbing including circulating dry scrubbers, spray drier absorbers and direct sorbent injection.

Hundreds of Options Facing Power Plants Purchasing New or UpgradingWet Calcium FGD Systems

The wet calcium (lime and limestone) process is only one option for removing SO₂. Dry systems, ammonium sulfate, seawater, amine and other processes are also alternatives. Assuming that the purchaser has decided to purchase a new or upgrade an existing wet calcium FGD system, he must then make hundreds of decisions about processes and components. These systems represent up to 15 percent of the entire power plant investment. So it is important that all options be considered and the best selected. Power Plant Air Quality Decisions is a program providing utilities with a continuing and thorough analysis of issues and options.

The first set of options involves system design. If you select the less expensive limestone process, you have low operating but high capital cost. If you opt for lime, the reverse is true. If you need to elevate the discharge gas temperature to meet local regulations, then you need to consider gas-to-gas heat exchangers before and after the scrubber. But you should avoid this expensive and maintenance prone process if you can.

There are a variety of scrubber designs falling into four main categories: spray tower, tray tower, sump and hybrid. Spray towers require large quantities of slurry. Tray towers use much smaller pumps but the fan horsepower is greater. Sump scrubbers are compact but also require more fan horsepower. A hybrid version is the rod or pipe scrubber which is being touted by at least one major supplier. A double contact scrubber is offered by another. The conventional wisdom has been that laminar flow and optimum droplet dispersion causes the best results. The purchaser should be cautioned to consider that turbulence rather than laminar flow may provide the best results.

When spray towers are used, the performance of the nozzles is critical. Hollow cone or full cone, downflow vs. upflow and other arrangements need to be analyzed. Mist eliminators are also critical. Escaping mist adds to emissions and can cause maintenance problems. Design considerations include:

The selection of materials is critical due to the abrasive and corrosive environments. The inlet to the scrubber and the scrubber walls has proved most challenging to materials suppliers. Stainless, alloys, titanium, FRP, plastic and rubber lining, and non-metallic mineral linings are all being utilized. One problem is that the corrosive impact is controlled by the operator. If he recirculates more slurry and bleeds less, the chloride level can rise to levels which eliminate most material choices. The temperature is also controlled by the operator. If the pumps fail, the scrubber can quickly exceed temperatures beyond the FRP limit.

Big recirculating slurry pumps may be required to move hundreds of thousands of gallons per minute. Many improvements have recently been made to reduce maintenance and improve efficiency. The purchaser needs to determine which vendors have made these improvements.

Slurry valves are equally important. Two options are knife gate and butterfly valves. Both are being used with butterfly valves showing more use in Europe.

The power plant has to decide whether to make wallboard quality gypsum or just a material for disposal. The gypsum quality is influenced by the oxidation blower. Both single-stage and multi-stage blowers are available. Cost, energy consumption and other factors differ.

Recent component improvements are important enough that the purchaser of a new system should make sure that the system he purchases incorporates them. Operators who are upgrading systems should also make sure they are aware of these advances.

This includes only projects where there was an update during the month. There are thousands of projects in the database.

New power generation projects are tracked in two publications. Fossil and Nuclear Power Generation includes both market forecasts and project data. World Power Generation Projects has just the project data.

Project Title		First Entry Date	Location		Startup date
Simhadri III expansion-National Thermal Power Corp.		4/1/2015	India		Unknown
Sorong power plant-Japan Gasoline Co		4/1/2015	Indonesia		Unknown
Zabrze CHP plant-Fortum		4/1/2015	Poland		2018
Mae Moh ultra supercritical expansion-Electricity Gen Auth of Thailand		4/1/2015	Thailand		2018
Odessa IGCC power plant-Summit Power		4/1/2015	TX		Unknown
Duyen Hai 2		4/1/2015	Vietnam		2020
Duyen Hai 1		4/1/2015	Vietnam		2015
Manuguru power plant-Telangana State Power Generation		10/1/2014	India		2017
Bin Qasim power plant		7/1/2014	Pakistan		2018
Jaworzno ultra supercritical power plant-Tauron		7/1/2013	Poland		2019
Safaga power plant on Red Sea-Orascom		1/1/2013	Egypt		Unknown
Rampal (Friendship. Maitree) power plant-Power Development Board/NTPC		9/1/2010	Bangladesh		Unknown
Khargone ultra supercritical power plant-NTPC		4/1/2010	India		Unknown
Batang power plant-PT Adaro Energy, J-Power, and Itochu		4/1/2010	Indonesia		2019
Duyen Hai 3-3 supercritical power plant-EVN		1/1/2009	Vietnam		2018
Aqaba Stage 1-Jordan nuclear power plants		12/1/2008	Jordan		2021
Hongyanhe 1-6 nuclear power plant-CGNPC		9/1/2007	China		2021
Kusile supercriticcal power project-Eskom Project Bravo		1/1/2007	South Africa		2018
Sasan supercritical power plant-Reliance Power		1/1/2006	India		2015
Krishnapatnam B supercritic(Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah)-Andhra Pradesh Power			India		2015
Zuma Energy Nigeria power plant (Itobe	3/1/2015			Nigeria		Unknown
Cadiz CFB power plant-North Negros Energy Power	3/1/2015			Philippines		2018
Cox's Bazar (Matarbari) ultra supercritica plant-Bangladesh Power Dev. Board	5/1/2013			Bangladesh		2019
Kudankulam expansion (3 and 4)	9/1/2010			India		2023
Bhadreshwar power plant-OPG Ltd.	9/1/2010			India		2015
Fangjiashan 1,2	7/1/2010			China		2015
Krishnapatnam Phase 1-Thermal Powertech Corp. India	5/1/2010			India		2016
Barakah 1-4 nuclear power plant	6/1/2009			United Arab Emirates		2020
Barapukuria expansion (III)-CMC	3/1/2008			Bangladesh		Unknown
Astravyets in Ostrovetsky district--Belarus nuclear power plant	6/1/2007			Belarus		2020
Alvin W. Vogtle 3,4 nuclear power plant-Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power	6/1/2007			GA		2020
Tanda supercritical power plant-NTPC	8/1/2006			India		2019
Moorburg 1,2-Vattenfall Europe	5/1/2006			Germany		2015
Margam biomass power plant	2/1/2015			UK		2017
Kothagudem power plant	10/1/2014			India		2018
Hub Power Co.power project	10/1/2014			Pakistan		2018
Tuticorin expansion-Neyveli Lignite	12/1/2013			India		Unknown
Dahej power plant-Adani Power	1/1/2008			India		Unknown
Metsamor-Armenia replacement nuclear power plant	10/1/2007			Armenia		2027
Tiroda Phase I and II power project-Adani Power	10/1/2007			India		2016