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The cost justification for removing mercury from power plant stacks has just been eliminated by EPA. This sets up the likelihood of lawsuits by the mining industry and possible eventual elimination of the rules.

The capital cost related to these rules was modest. The biggest cost was the activated carbon, which is injected to capture the mercury. This latest development is another step in a very painful journey for investors. Lots of money was invested in ADA ES and a related company ADA Carbon Solutions in the anticipation of huge carbon needs which could not be met by the existing suppliers.

It turned out that there were multiple solutions to capture mercury and the actual carbon consumption is far below original estimates. Now this latest development would potentially eliminate the use of carbon completely.

On December 27, EPA issued its finding that Obama-era regulations on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants were no longer appropriate and necessary. It is the latest in a long series of deregulatory actions taken by the Trump administration in an effort to resuscitate the coal industry.

In this case, the timing was off. Since Barack Obama’s EPA implemented the rule in 2011, coal plants have already spent billions in capital and operating expense.

Mercury emissions have since fallen by nearly 90 percent. The money cannot be unspent — and many utility operators have written to the EPA asking for the rules to be left in place. Removing the mercury rule is, however, being promoted by Bob Murray, a coal industry executive with the president’s ear for whom Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the EPA, once worked as both a lawyer and lobbyist.

In the proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding declaring that federal rules imposed on mercury by the Obama administration are too costly to justify.

It drastically changed the formula the government uses in its required cost-benefit analysis of the regulation by taking into account only certain effects that can be measured in dollars, while ignoring or playing down other health benefits.

The result could set a precedent reaching far beyond mercury rules. “It will make it much more difficult for the government to justify environmental regulations in many cases,” said Robert N. Stavins, a professor of environmental economics at Harvard University.

While the proposal technically leaves the mercury restrictions in place, by revising the underlying justifications for them the administration has opened the door for coal mining companies, which have long opposed the rules, to challenge them in court. The rules, issued in 2011, were the first to restrict some of the most hazardous pollutants emitted by coal plants and are considered one of former President Barack Obama’s signature environmental achievements.

OG&E Seeks to Recover Costs for Federally-Mandated Emissions Compliance Plan

Oklahoma Gas and Electric, a subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp. announced that it has asked the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to review the company's request to recover its approximately $534 million investment in the Sooner Power Plant and its approximately $75 million investment in the Muskogee Power Plant (Muskogee). To comply with the federal Regional Haze Rule, the company has installed emissions-reducing scrubbers on the two coal-fired units at Sooner and is converting two units from coal to natural gas at Muskogee.

"The first Sooner scrubber is online and the second is scheduled to go into service in January 2019," said OG&E spokesman Brian Alford. "It's important to note that this project is on schedule and approximately $80 million under budget. Similarly, the Muskogee conversion is scheduled to go online in January 2019, also on time and under budget."

The company is seeking a rate increase of $77.6 million per year, or 4.4 percent, to recover its investment. This equates to an increase of approximately $7.60 per month for the average residential customer.

"While taking these actions at Sooner and Muskogee, we have maintained customer rates that are among the lowest in the country, at 31 percent below the national average, and within one-half of a percent of our 2014 rates, when these projects began," said Alford. "Due in large part to the actions we've taken at these facilities, overall plant emissions are expected to be significantly lower from 2005 levels. Beginning in 2019, sulfur dioxide emissions are expected to be lower by nearly 90 percent, nitrogen oxide to be lower by nearly 75 percent and carbon dioxide to be lower by approximately 40 percent."

Doosan Supplying 75 MW CFB and Flue Gas Cleaning for Japanese Biomass Boiler

Doosan Lentjes is to deploy its circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler technology at a new 75-MWe biomass-fired power plant located in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The project will be executed under the terms of a larger EP contract awarded to Lentjes’ parent company Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) headquartered in Korea.

Scheduled to be completed in June 2022, the project will support the plant owner, Osaka Gas Group, in the economic implementation of a sustainable energy generation concept. In doing so, they will benefit from the reliability and fuel flexibility of the Doosan Lentjes’ CFB boiler technology, which is capable of efficiently burning climate-friendly fuel types, as, in this case, biomass wood pellets. Integrated and additionally installed emissions control equipment will further improve the environmental performance of the new power plant to meet stringent local emissions regulations.

Commenting on the project, Damian Goral, Product Director at Doosan Lentjes, says: “For several reasons, this CFB boiler contract is an important project for us: Not only is it our newest reference on the highly-regulated Japanese market, it also emphasizes once again that our technology is recognized to be flexible in delivering performance beyond conventional fuel-firing. Drawing back on our experience gained from previous biomass projects allows us to be aware of the certain requirements in respect of both fuel characteristics and boiler adaptions needed respectively.”

Doosan Lentjes’ scope of work will encompass both engineering and procurement of the boiler island including the major boiler and key flue gas cleaning equipment. Moreover, the company’s contribution is also expected to cover advisory services for both erection and commissioning along with training. http://www.doosanlentjes.com/en/media/news-view/?seq=20171678

Hamon Marks a New Important Step in Its Transformation Plan with the sale of its PHE Division

The Hamon Group announces that it has completed the sale of its Process Heat Exchanger (“PHE”) to Grossmann GmbH, a company of the German group Ingenieurburö R. Grossmann GmbH & Co. KG (“Grossmann Group”). Active in the field of engineering, procurement and construction, the Grossmann Group provides complete and turnkey solutions to its customers, particularly in the field of water, gas and energy treatment.

As a strategic investor, the Grossmann Group wishes to pursue the development of PHE and its activities related to the design and production of heat exchangers mainly for the chemical and petrochemical industry, and the energy and heat recovery sector.

Bernard Goblet, CEO of Hamon, stated: “By finalizing this sale, we are taking a new step forward in the execution of our transformation plan. We are thus continuing our withdrawal from non-strategic activities and refocusing our core activities on our engineering business. We thank the employees of PHE for their commitment over the past few years. We are convinced that the company will be in good hands to continue its development with new means.”

As the anticipated result of the sale of assets related to PHE operations was already provisioned in the first quarter, no impact is expected on the financial results for the second half.

Doosan Babcock and Drax Power Limited have agreed to a new long-term contract for the provision of maintenance and outage services to the U.K.’s largest power station. The deal, worth at least £60 million, continues to cement the strong relationship between both companies dating back to the construction of the plant near Selby, Yorkshire that was started 50 years ago.

The new four-year partnership, with the option for a further four years, will strengthen workforce collaboration and improve efficiencies in maintaining and extending the life of the plant, which is responsible for providing 7 percent of the U.K.’s electricity.

Andy Colquhoun, CEO of Doosan Babcock commented, “Drax Power is one of the most progressive and innovative companies in the global energy sector so we are delighted to deepen our strategic relationship. This new agreement provides a platform for further collaboration in the years ahead as Drax continues to invest and evolve their assets.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said, “It’s vital that Drax continues to operate as reliably and flexibly as possible for the millions of homes and businesses which rely on the electricity we produce.

“This new contract will bring a closer working relationship with the Doosan Babcock team, delivering efficiencies whilst maintaining the high quality of work and standards of service required to maintain the U.K.’s biggest power station.

“We have converted two-thirds of the power station to use biomass instead of coal, transforming the business to become the U.K.’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonization project in Europe.

“This, along with our plans to repower our remaining coal units to use high efficiency gas, is preserving the future of the power station and protecting jobs — our operations support 5700 jobs across the North and generate £600 million for the regional economy.”

Keep Up with the Air Pollution Market Dynamics with the Gold Dust Newsletter

The McIlvaine Air Pollution Management Service with the Gold Dust newsletter is only $975/yr. Headlines for November are shown below. More details are found at 5AB Air Pollution Management.

How Vinyl Ester Linings Can Help Defend Against Aggressive Conditions Experienced in FGD Processes

This is a white paper by Hempel, which is available through the Power Engineering site. McIlvaine has been following the use of these linings as opposed to metal alloys or FRP. They have been popular in China.

The Biological treatment process is perceived as the low-cost option to FGD treatment and the Zero Liquid Discharge process is perceived to be more expensive from a CAPEX and OPEX standpoint. While this is true, the difference is not as much as has been presented within the market by various engineering firms. In addition, there are options for achieving ZLD while reducing the costs associated with this alternative.

Burns & McDonnell has postulated that the cost of Biological Treatment plants and ZLD plants are closely competitive up to 200 GPM whereas CH2M indicates the installed cost of ZLD to be three times that of biological treatment.

The equipment costs and estimated installation costs of the ZLD system generated by Aquatech paint a much more positive depiction of the relative installed costs of ZLD compared to biological treatment.

From 10 to 12 million tons of cement kiln dust accumulates annually at domestic cement plants. This finely divided dust is emitted from cement kilns to prevent the buildup of excessive salts in the cement product. If separated into its valuable components, waste cement kiln dust could become a significant source of potassium and a raw material for making cement. This article does not include the use of this dust for SO₂ removal from coal-fired boilers, but potassium is very reactive and would be a good reagent. One question is its use in direct sorbent injection or DSI.

There is widespread use of drinking water plant lime sludge as an FGD reagent. So other alternatives should also be explored. The use would be primarily where a small boiler is near a source or where multiple sources can be included so that enough reagent for a large application is available.

Korea Electric Power Is Increasing Gas Turbine Capacity and Replacing Some Coal and Nuclear

Kepco has 34,000 MW of coal capacity. It is adding 1000 MW of coal-fired capacity in 2020 but will retire 1500 MW in 2021-2 and then 2000 more MW of coal-fired capacity in 2023-30. IPPs will add 15,000 MW of thermal capacity during the period through 2030 for a total of 40,000 MW. Nuclear capacity will rise with three additions in the next four years, but with retirements will total only slightly less than the present 22,000 MW.

The company is targeting 2018 sales of $37 billion rising to $45 billion in 2020. Under its “Shared Technology Framework,” MHI Group is striving to strengthen its technological and marketing infrastructures, optimize the value chain across the Group (including procurement), and reinforce the competitiveness of its businesses in the medium-to-long term.

MHI Group handles a greater variety of products than its competitors do, and in order to turn this product diversity into competitiveness, it is promoting group-wide technology and knowledge sharing in product development. Applying cutting-edge technology from gas turbine development to numerous other products, such as compressors, centrifugal chillers, and turbochargers, is one example of what it is doing to realize conglomerate synergies by technology and knowledge sharing. Combust, flow and treat (CFT) suppliers therefore have the opportunity to also understand the group-wide opportunities and offer packages covering the gamut of opportunities.

POWER SYSTEMS: Intelligent Transport Systems gas and steam power generation systems, nuclear power plant equipment (light-water reactors/nuclear fuel cycle & advanced solutions), wind power generators, aero engines, compressors, marine machinery.

Having been hit by global market factors such as the acceleration of the shift to low-carbon approaches and the switch to renewable energy, coal-fired power plants saw a significant decline, and order volumes for gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) systems also fell considerably. As a result, consolidated orders received decreased year on year, to ¥1437.5 billion. Consolidated net sales rose year on year to ¥1493.9 billion, driven by steady progress in work-related to orders for gas and steam power generations, as well as increases in aero engines. Although there were improvements in the profitability of the gas and steam power generations, aftersales service, due to such factors as the decline in nuclear power plant equipment, operating income was flat year on year at ¥108.9 billion.

INDUSTRIAL: Metal machinery, environmental systems, paper converting machinery, mechatronics systems, ITS, material handling equipment, engines, turbochargers, air-conditioning & refrigeration systems, automotive thermal systems, machine tools, commercial ships, transportation systems, and chemical plants.

In addition to increases in metals machinery on the back of strong infrastructure investment, orders grew for turbochargers, material handling equipment, air-conditioning & refrigeration systems, and other items due to economic expansion, primarily in developed countries. Consequently, consolidated orders received rose year on year to ¥1,711.3 billion. Consolidated net sales exceeded the level of the previous fiscal year and rose to ¥1,898.9 billion, driven by increases in material handling equipment and turbochargers, for which orders were strong, and in commercial ships.

EXAMPLES of CFT OPPORTUNITIES: Flue gas desulfurization, waste-to-energy, geothermal, CO₂ recovery, marine scrubbers, sinter plant waste heat recovery, gas turbine combined cycle plants, coal-fired boilers.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The company is focused on improving energy efficiency with data analytics and remote monitoring. It is fostering cross-divisional projects.

New Study Shows Costs and Benefits of Indian Coal-fired Boiler APC Regulations

Without compliance, the study estimates that the SO_x and NO_x emissions will double, as compared to 2015 baseline emissions, while PM₁₀ emissions will increase by 30 percent over the next 15 years. Implementing control technologies to meet norms could reduce the projected emissions of SO_x by 95 percent, NO_x by 87 percent and PM by 83 percent, in 2030.

To comply with the emission standards, power producers will have to make significant investments in installing Pollution Control Technologies (PCT), i.e., INR 0.5–1 crore (INR 5–10 million)/MW for, nearly 80 percent of the plants in 2030. This study estimates an industry opportunity of around INR 2.50,000 crore (2500 billion) for the pollution control equipment industry, over the next 15 years.

Plants in five states will account for over 50 percent of the total costs needed for PCT installation, until 2030. Privately owned plants will face the highest costs for implementing these standards (over 45 percent), followed by state-owned (32 percent), and centrally-owned plants (24 percent). However, the lack of domestic manufacturing capacity, availability of technology providers in India, and the time taken for procurement and installation of PCTs may deter a time bound implementation plan.

CET Govora S.A. owns and operates a 2 x 345 MW_th lignite-fired power plant located in Ramnicu Valcea, Romania. Doosan Lentjes and Elsaco Electronic, a consortium of companies, were awarded a turnkey contract to retrofit the two Existing boilers C5 & C6 with an advanced flue gas desulfurization system.

Key Project Data
Final Customer	CET Govara S.A.
Consortium Partner	Elsaco Electronic
Location of Power Station	Ramnicu Valcea, Romania
Main Fuel	Lignite
Thermal Capacity	2 x 345 MW
Capacity of FGD	1 Boiler
Award Date	2018
DeSOx Technology	Wet Limestone
Number of DeSOx Lines	1
Flue Gas Flow Rate	1x760,000m³/h (STP, wet)
SO₂Inlet Concentration	7,400 mg/m³(STP, dry)
Guaranteed Emission Data SO₂ Removal Efficiency	98.8%

NTPC plans to install DeNOx systems on 131 units totaling 60 GW. Combustion modification (CM) will be installed on 52 units totaling 17 GW. CM plus SNCR will be installed on 44 units totaling 21 GW. SCR/hybrid systems to be ordered for 35 units and 22 GW and SCR DeNOx system for Patratu (3 X 800 MW) were ordered under EPC for compliance of New Norm. SCR is included in future tenders of TTPS-III (2 X 660 MW) & SSTPP-III (2 X 660 MW).

In June of 2018, India’s Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) entered into an agreement with NANO Co. Ltd., of the Republic of Korea for the design and manufacture of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts in coal-fired power plants, to be commissioned or retrofitted with high capacity emission control equipment.

To comply with the norms of SO_x and NO_x emission, issued by India’s Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for thermal power plants, BHEL aid it is geared up to provide complete, state-of-the-art solutions by offering suitable flue gas clean-up and emission control systems.

This agreement will enable BHEL to enhance its offerings for emission control systems (De-NOx applications) and covers state-of-the-art technology for designing, engineering and manufacturing of SCR catalysts. Following this, BHEL will be the first Indian company to possess technology and manufacturing capabilities for plate-type SCR catalysts as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. NANO Co. Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of SCR catalysts and associated raw materials and has supplied SCR catalysts to various countries including Germany, France, Italy, China and Taiwan.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) entered into a Technology Collaboration Agreement (TCA) with Babcock Power Environmental Inc., USA (BPE) for Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) Systems for De-NOx application in September 2018.

Energy Capital Partners (ECP) focuses on existing and new-build energy infrastructure projects primarily in North America. It prefers stable, contracted, or fee-based businesses that help to mute the volatility of returns often associated with commodity-oriented businesses.

The remote monitoring and virtual O&M services for power and waste to energy plants as well as oil and gas operations offers the ultimate in stable contracted fee based businesses. However, this requires an emphasis on synergy and an elimination of silos. The industrial internet of things (IIoT) has eliminated some silos but the Industrial Internet of Wisdom (IIoW) connects people within previously impenetrable silos. The need for IIoW is shown by the ridiculous aversion to waste to energy in the U.S. The NY Times Hongkong Bureau Chief at the height of the dioxin scare called McIlvaine to comment on a scheduled front-page story, which would conclude that dioxins carried by the wind from Chinese waste-to-energy plants would sicken many Californians. Fortunately, when the NY Times found out that a backyard barbecue can emit more dioxins than a 1000 ton per day waste-to-energy plant, the story was modified. Nevertheless, whereas the rest of world prohibits landfills if you can burn the waste the U.S. does the opposite.

Wisdom about dioxins, mercury, SO₃, NO₂, NO, and other pollutants and ways to solve them abounds in ECP companies such as Cormetech and SCR-Tech. Needs for this information but considerable wisdom about these pollutants also resides at Wheelabrator and Calpine. There are shared needs for instrumentation, valve, and pump expertise.

ECP is an interesting case in that its basic structure is one of silos. Businesses are acquired and then often sold at an appropriate time. However, a strong case can be made that ECP companies can be effectively using IIoW and break the silo barriers and then continue to do so if one of them is no longer owned by ECP.

The elimination of silos can greatly improve the balance sheet and value of ECP companies. Cormetech can be generating virtual O&M revenues at DeNOx installations around the world including those at Wheelabrator waste to energy and Calpine gas turbine plants.

Calpine Corp. is one of America’s largest generators of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources with a portfolio of 80 power plants accounting for approximately 26,000 megawatts of generation capacity. Through its wholesale power operations and retail businesses.

Continental Intermodal Group LP (CIG) is a provider of integrated logistics infrastructure and solutions to the oil and gas industry. CIG is the largest operator of sand and well consumable transloading facilities in the U.S. with 17 terminals currently operating across the Permian (9), Eagle Ford (4), Haynesville (2), SCOOP/STACK (1) and Marcellus (1) basins, along with an additional two contracted terminals currently under advanced development.

CM Energy owns a mining complex in West Virginia producing predominately low-cost and high-quality metallurgical coal.

Cormetech was formed through the merger of CoaLogix Holdings, Inc. and STEAG Energy Services, LLC in 2016 and the acquisition of Cormetech, Inc. in 2017. The company is wholly owned by Energy Capital Partners and STEAG Energy Services GmbH.

Cormetech provides innovative and cost-effective solutions that help coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants and other industrial facilities achieve and maintain compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The company is a manufacturer and provider of environmental catalysts, catalyst regeneration and catalyst management services for the power, marine, industrial-process, refinery, and petrochemical markets. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, the company owns manufacturing facilities, R&D centers and testing laboratories in Charlotte, NC, Durham, NC and Cleveland, TN.

EnergySolutions owns, operates and maintains a network of environmental infrastructure assets critical to the U.S. nuclear industry that are among the largest commercial disposal facilities, processing facilities and logistics and transportation businesses for low-level radioactive waste in the United States. Virtually all nuclear plants in the U.S. and the U.S. Department of Energy use the company service offerings, and the company is active in multiple nuclear plant decomissionings, including Zion Nuclear Power Plant and San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station.

Next Wave Energy Partners, LP was formed to focus on the development, operation, acquisition and expansion of midstream and downstream assets in North America with a focus on the petrochemicals and fuels markets. Next Wave is actively evaluating investment opportunities throughout the fee-based midstream and downstream value chains.

Sendero Midstream Partners, LP is a Houston-based midstream company focused on MLP-qualifying North American midstream oil and gas assets in attractive shale basins, which feature a meaningful “build” component, opportunities for expansion, and stable cash flow profiles supported by volume or “fee-based” contracts with credit-worthy counterparties.

In December 2017, Sendero completed construction of a new highly efficient 130 MMcf/day cryogenic processing plant and associated facilities in the Northern Delaware basin in Eddy County, New Mexico. Sendero’s natural gas gathering system currently comprises approximately 50 miles of large diameter low- and high-pressure gas pipelines and approximately 20,000-horse power of installed field compression in addition to the operational cryogenic plant.

Targa is a provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream energy companies in North America. The company owns, operates, acquires, and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. Targa is primarily engaged in the business of: (1) gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and selling natural gas, (2i) storing, fractionating, treating, transporting, and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters, (3), gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil, and (4) storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products.

Targa operates a gathering and processing asset base diversified across multiple shale and natural resource plays, including the Permian Basin, Barnett Shale, Bakken Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, Anadarko Basin, Arkoma Basin, onshore Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. The company also has the second largest fractionation ownership position at Mont Belvieu and world class LPG export facilities on the Gulf Coast at the Galena Park Marine Terminal, which is interconnected to Mont Belvieu.

Terra-Gen’s current operating portfolio is highlighted by its wind portfolio located primarily in Tehachapi and Palm Springs, CA. These two regions boast some of the state’s best wind resources and transmission infrastructure that allows Terra-Gen to directly deliver renewable power to end markets including San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Triton Power Partners LP portfolio consists of UK power plants including (1) Saltend, a 1200-MW combined cycle gas plant constructed in 2000, (i2) Indian Queens, a 140 MW oil-fired peaking unit constructed in 1996, and (i3) Deeside, a 500-MW combined cycle gas plant constructed in 1994.

Wheelabrator is the second largest waste-to-energy business in the United States. The company has an annual waste processing capacity of approximately 8 million tons and a total combined electric generating capacity of approximately 800 MWs, including Wheelabrator’s 50 percent stake in the UK Ferrybridge plant, which came online in July 2015. Wheelabrator also owns and operates four independent power plants, which generate electricity using an assortment of fuels, including waste wood, waste coal, natural gas, and four ash landfills. Wheelabrator’s facilities are primarily located in the northeastern U.S., though the company has a pipeline of WtE projects across the UK that are under construction or in advanced stages of development.

Wood is a Significant Purchaser of Rotating Equipment and Other Components for Coal Fired Power Plants

A number of acquisitions shape the present position of Wood in the coal fired power sector. Amec Foster Wheeler defended its £2.2bn takeover by rival Wood Group as a "no-brainer" even as a major turnaround program was beginning to bear fruit in 2017.

Amec’s final results before the deal completes revealed better-than-expected earnings and a return to profit for the first half of 2017, due in large part to the overhaul it started before Wood Group’s approach.

Previously, Amec Foster Wheeler sold its circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler business to Sumitomo Heavy Industries for $170m (£133m). The North American aftermarket services business, which was originally part of GPG, has been retained

Sumitomo acquired the Graf CFB scrubber technology along with the CFB boiler operations. On the other hand, Wood retained its air pollution control operations resulting from the purchase of Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control.

In the power industry, Wood delivers turnkey solutions to plan, design, construct and operate power plants, as well as improve the performance and reliability of turbines, high-speed rotating equipment, pumps and compressors. Applying specialist knowledge across a broad range of rotating equipment, Wood is providing safe, reliable and cost-effective operations throughout the lifecycle of a facility and assets.

Using expertise in both operating power plants and overhauling and maintaining rotating equipment, Wood delivers O&M strategies to enhance the operational performance and system reliability of power generation assets. Skilled operations and engineering teams provide turbine maintenance solutions to minimize downtime, increase availability and reduce the overall operating costs of a facility.