February 2015 - Water Market Insights 136

Asian Coal-Fired Power Generators Will Spend Over $300 Million/yr. for Ultrapure Water

By 2019 coal-fired power generators in Asia will be spending $342 million for ultrapure water systems. This is up from $243 million in 2012. This includes the ion-exchange or electrodeionization modules, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, degasification membranes, metering pumps, treatment chemicals, piping and all the associated valves. This does not include the valves in the steam cycle. These forecasts are displayed in McIlvaine publication, Ultrapure Water: World Market. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

Asian expenditures will equal those of Europe/Africa and the Americas by 2019. Many of the new power plants in Asia are of the supercritical design. They require very high purity water due to the very high pressures and temperatures. There is increased use of municipal wastewater and other low quality water sources. This increases both the capital and consumable expenditures.

There are variations in contaminants such as silica in the water sources. So each source has to be separately evaluated and the equipment and chemicals tailored to that source.

Most of the investment is in the small fraction of fresh water which is added to the recirculating system. The condensed steam can range from 99 percent of the total downward. The extreme case would be where all the steam is being used for district heating and none is being returned. This results in the need to purify large quantities of fresh water. However, the quality requirement is not so high due to the fact that the contaminants are not concentrating.

Condensate polishing is necessary due to corrosion of the piping and other potential sources of contamination of the recirculating steam.

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.

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.

· Adani to acquire Lanco Infratech’s 1200 MW Coal-fired Udupi Power Plant

· 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

· Federal Officials order Wyoming Plant to return $5.7 Million in Stimulus Funds

· Activated Carbon Sales for Air Pollution to Reach $1 Billion - $2 Billion/yr by 2020

· More than 2,000 Major Industrial Air Pollution Projects in the Americas in each of the Next Five Years

· HCl Scrubbing and Rare Earth recovery from Coal-fired Power Plants and Gasifiers

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)