FGD and DeNOx
NEWSLETTER       

                                                                                                           May 2003
                                                                                                             No. 301

Grand Haven BPL May Go With SNCR Not BioDeNOx

The Grand Haven, Michigan Board of Power & Light (BPL) will be looking at SNCR and not BioDeNOx to meet the May, 2004 NO_x reduction requirement. Between December 2001 and the end of last year, Corus Consulting & Technical Services, a Netherlands-based firm, tested its BioDeNOx system at the BPL’s J.B. Sims 3 power plant on Harbor Island. BPL officials were hopeful that BioDeNOx would work, as it was estimated it would cost less than $400,000 to install. 

BPL General Manager Phil Trumpfheller said that the tests showed substantial reduction of NO_x emissions by using a chemical compound in conjunction with the plant’s existing equipment. “However, the removal rates were lower than originally expected, and the chemical costs were higher than expected,” Trumpfheller said (in an article appearing in the Grand Haven Tribune). “This changed the economics of this process and made it a more costly option than other existing emission control technologies.”

Officials from Corus informed the BPL last week that it was pulling its demonstration from Grand Haven and planned to research the BioDeNOx problems. According to BPL Production Superintendent Dan Bush, Corus believed they were no longer able to compete with other NO_x removal technologies now on the market. In all, the BPL is estimating that it will now have to spend close to $3 million over the next two years to comply with the new clean air standards. 

Trumpfheller said the BPL sent out a request for proposals for SNCR. He estimated that the SNCR system would cost around $1 million, far less than SCR. In addition, the BPL will seek bids for six new low NO_x burners, estimated at a total cost of $1.2 million, and boiler modifications. Some of the old burners melted down last year and had been scheduled to be replaced regardless of their NO_x emission level. Bids were expected back by April 18.

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