500 Big scrubber projects in planning
and construction worldwide
Power plants in the U.S., China and other countries around-the-world are undertaking projects to capture sulfur dioxide through the use of scrubber systems. More than 500 big projects are in planning or construction for installation through 2012. China has the largest number in construction, while the U.S. has the largest number in the planning stage.
All of these projects are reported in Utility Environmental Upgrade Tracking System, an online publication of the McIlvaine Company.
In Europe and the U.S. the bulk of the projects are for retrofits to existing plants. The U.S. has only installed scrubbers on one-third of its coal-fired capacity. New SO2 limits in the European Union are forcing some older as well as new members to invest in scrubbers.
In Asia the projects for new plants predominate. However, a significant number of Chinese retrofits are slated. Taiwan, South Korea and India will be relatively large purchasers. There are projects in most Asian countries including even the poorest ones, e.g. Vietnam.
More than 85 percent of the projects will utilize limestone or lime to produce gypsum. Most of this gypsum will be used in the manufacture of wall board. Most of the rest of the projects will utilize lime in dry or semi dry scrubbing systems. A few projects will use ammonia to make ammonium sulfate fertilizer. Several projects will produce sulfuric acid or elemental sulfur.
The typical lead time on a retrofit project is four years in the U.S. and only two years in China. For projects on new coal-fired boilers, the lead time is six years in the U.S. and three years in China. However, due to a surge in Chinese activity and limited production capacity, the lead times are lengthening.
An unmanageable number of projects are now slated for start-up in 2008. The likely result is slippage of many projects to a date one or two years later than the original plan.
The database tracks the award process starting with the consultant or architect/engineer and then the companies bidding the scrubber system. After the system is awarded, the purchases of major components such as pumps, belt filters, and ball mills are also recorded.
Bidders on these projects are international. System suppliers include Japanese, German, and U.S. companies and their licensees. To date, most of the systems awarded in China have been to licensees of offshore companies. In other Asian countries joint venture partners have assisted offshore companies.
The Tracking System also reports on other environmental upgrades such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NOx reduction. It also provides data on each coal-fired boiler operating around-the-world.
For more information on the Utility Environmental Upgrade Tracking System, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/energy.html .
Bob McIlvaine
847-784-0012