March 2016 - Fabric Filter-Precipitator Insights 63

Fabric filters are now the popular option for particulate control. The sales of new electrostatic precipitators peaked some years ago. However, electrostatic precipitators will continue to outstrip fabric filters in terms of the installed base for at least the next 15 years. This is the prediction in N018 Electrostatic Precipitator World Market.

Large investments in new electrostatic precipitators are being made in Indonesia, Vietnam, India and other developing countries. In Europe, China, Japan and the U.S. billions of dollars per year are being spent to repair and upgrade existing units.

Most countries now limit emissions from coal-fired boilers, cement plants and other large sources to such a low level that it is difficult for existing precipitators to meet the requirements. The installation of newer designs of discharge and collection electrodes and modifications to the electrical system can improve operations.

Another option is to make the precipitator into a hybrid. The last field of the precipitator is replaced with bags. LongKing has sold a number of hybrid conversions to Chinese power plants. FLSmidth has sold hybrid conversions to cement plants.

One option is to add a wet precipitator downstream of the dry precipitator and scrubber. Several of the 2010 vintage new coal-fired power plants in the U.S. incorporate this combination. A number of Chinese power plants chose this option to deal with the new particulate standard.

One of the most promising developments involves the reduction of the inlet temperature to the precipitator. Mitsubishi and Hitachi found that reducing the temperature below 200°F at the precipitator inlet achieved the 10 mg/Nm³ performance which otherwise required the wet precipitator addition.

The challenge of this approach is to reduce the inlet temperature without condensing sulfuric acid. URS and others are preventing the acid formation by injecting sorbent ahead of the air pre-heater.

The addition of the sorbent and extension of the air heater is more than justified by the 1 percent increase in thermal efficiency for the plant. The precipitator improvement is a serendipitous result.

The biggest opportunity for precipitator suppliers lies in a comprehensive support program to help precipitator owners minimize their total cost of ownership while complying with the regulations.

A Complex Multitude of Air Quality Decisions Need to Be Made by the World’s Coal-fired Power Plants

Coal-fired power generators supply more electricity than gas, wind or solar. Expenditures for new power plants continue at a rate in developing countries sufficient to ensure that the net world coal-fired generating capacity will continue to increase. Both existing power plant operators and new power plant developers have a large number of complex decisions to make about achieving air quality.

Power Plant Air Quality Decisions is a combination of alerts and decision systems, which helps the power plants make the best decisions and helps suppliers understand the issues and options.

Option A	Option B	Option C
Mercury Reduction
Activated Carbon	Chemicals in Fuel	Absorber Module
Mercury CEMS	Sorbent Traps	Both
DeNOx
SCR	SNCR	Catalytic Filter
SO₂
Wet Scrubbers	Dry Scrubbers	Direct Injection
Lime/Limestone	Sodium	Ammonia
Particulate
Precipitator	Fabric Filter	Hybrid
Opacity monitor	Mass Monitor with Physical Capture	Mass Monitor with Electronic Measurement/ Conversion
Discrete Particles	Condensibles	Total particulate
Hourly limits	Daily limits	Yearly Limits
Selenium Capture
Activated Carbon	Scrubber	Not Captured
HCl Capture
Chloride Salts in Dry Mix	Chloride Salts Washed from Gypsum	30% Grade Hydrochloric Acid

There are a number of other decisions which influence the above choices. If there is a market for flyash, it will impact the choice of mercury and SO₂ capture technologies. If the expected plant life is long, then the particulate and SO₂ technology selections will be different than if the remaining life is short.

There are many new developments which are likely to change future decision making. The catalytic filter with direct sorbent injection combines three devices into one. More importantly, it provides clean hot gas at 850°F and facilitates maximum heat recovery and energy efficiency.

The use of gasified waste as a “reburn” fuel reduces operating costs and reduces the CO₂ footprint. The use of treated municipal wastewater plus zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology makes the plant a positive contributor to improved water quality in the region.

The extraction of rare earths and valuable metals from the ash promise to make coal-fired power an important resource.

The Flow Control Future Belongs to International Companies with Holistic and Proactive Development, Supply and Sales Programs

The $350 billion flow control and treatment market is undergoing a steady change caused by:

There have been many acquisitions in recent years as international companies seek to adjust to these changes. However, acquisitions are only part of the adaptation process. Some international companies are very successful in their expansion efforts. Others are not doing as well. The differences can be attributed to six factors.

1a	Holistic product development	1b	Proactive product development
2a	Holistic supply	2b	Proactive supply
3a	Holistic sales	3b	Proactive sales

Product development is much more important in flow control and treatment than in some other industries where the pace of change is slow. A holistic program takes into account the range of opportunities whereas a myopic program is the victim of an existing culture e.g., IBM and personal computers. W.L. Gore has developed unique products in retail clothing as well as flow control and treatment where it supplies pump packings, liquid filtration bags, gas turbine filters, dust collector bags, NO_x and VOC removal technologies and most recently a novel device for mercury removal. The company shows the holistic strength by the breadth of industries and products. It has demonstrated its proactive strength by unique approaches which take an industry in a different direction.

Companies without strong product development programs complain that the Chinese are stealing their designs. Thermo Fisher, with a strong development program, has built its main air pollution research center in China.

Supply includes manufacturing, purchasing, engineering and service. International flow control companies have been investing in manufacturing facilities in Asia. Filtration media companies have been generally successful in setting up plants in China. The biggest opportunity lies in a holistic approach which combines manufacturing with service. Pentair, for example, has worked on a repair business based on expensive valves which can be repaired rather than replaced. This initiative combines the holistic manufacturing/repair combination plus the proactive concept to take the industry in a new direction.

The potential for remote monitoring, service and then maintenance support can be realized with holistic and proactive approaches. This potential is highest in developing countries moving to high tech production e.g., pharmaceuticals in India, semiconductors in China and ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plants in Vietnam.

Most international companies are failing to take the proper holistic approach to sales. Divisions are not sharing intelligence or collaborating. Management has initiated top down approaches to take advantage of synergies but efforts have often been unsuccessful. There is considerable potential for multi-company initiatives. Various governments are helping. The Italian government has a strong initiative to promote industrial valve exports. The Industrial Valve Summit held last year in Bergamo, Italy was an effective promotional aid to the Italian valve manufacturing industry.

The McIlvaine Company is focused on helping international companies with all six of the important factors for international success. In addition, McIlvaine is creating unique tools which can be shared by suppliers and end users around the world. They include:

· Cross pollination among industries: McIlvaine conducted a cross industry pollination webinar on mercury removal for sewage sludge incinerators, coal-fired boilers, cement plants, waste-to-energy plants and natural gas pipelines. New developments applied to natural gas pipelines may be applicable to the other industries. Decision guides on NO_x, hot gas filtration and acid gas removal in multiple industries will be discussed in a series of webinars in March and April.

· White papers and analyses on products focused on the total cost of ownership.

· Identification of all supplier and end user parent companies by a corporate identification number with spelling in Chinese and English.

The mining industry will spend $13 billion for flow control and treatment equipment and services in 2017. The forecast appearing in N064 Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control: World Market includes the following fluids: air, water, gas, oil, slurries and other. Movement of gases and air with fans and compressors is a big segment. Three billion dollars will be spent for pumps and valves.

The air and water monitoring expenditures can be further segmented based on how the equipment is used. Online continuous measurement makes up the bulk of the expenditures.

The mining market is characterized by very large projects which are few in number but comprise a significant portion of the market. So the market is volatile. Presently there are a number of large potash projects in Saskatchewan, Canada which represent a potential sale of flow control and treatment equipment of close to $1 billion or over 7 percent of the entire annual market. A very large copper mining project in Ecuador will significantly impact the total market.

The U.S. represents only 6 percent of the mining potential for the largest segments which include iron ore, coal, bauxite, copper and phosphate. China on the other hand represents 23 percent of the total based on domestic production. When you consider that China is a major investor in the rest of the Americas which will account for 19 percent of the production and Africa with 13 percent of the production, its influence on mining flow control and treatment is considerable.

China and the Americas will account for over 33 percent of the bauxite production in 2017.

A number of factors are causing major shifts in power plant valve purchases. These changes are being continually evaluated in N028 Industrial Valves: World Market.

· Regulations which impact the valve expenditures per unit of electricity capacity

Developing countries are moving ahead with coal-fired power plants. The U.S. is building a number of gas turbine-fired power plants while Europe is relying on growth in renewable energy. So the result of this activity is a regional shift in valve markets.

Regulations are impacting valve expenditures. Limits on water discharges are generating markets for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems. Concentrated wastewater is processed in evaporators. Steam is regenerated with compressors, so a number of high performance valves are needed.

Limits on SO₂emissions are creating large markets for knife gate valves used with lime and gypsum slurry transport.

The long term market outlook is most impacted by the trend toward generation technologies which needed lower investments in valves. Nuclear power plants need a greater valve investment than any alternative. They require as much ultrapure water for steam generation as do coal-fired power plants. They outstrip alternatives relative to combustion valve requirements due to highly critical control of the nuclear reaction process. Substantial investment in valves is also required for water intakes, cooling water and wastewater treatment. The fact that nuclear power is being phased out in some countries reduces the valve potential in those countries.

The valve investment per MW has been compared for each power generation technology and for each type of fluid being controlled. This ranges from lubrication valves where flows are measured in fractions of a liter per hour to large valves in scrubber recycle systems in coal-fired power plants where the individual valve must handle 50,000 gpm and where one system may need eight of these valves.

Selection of valves for water intakes and cooling is essentially the same regardless of the generation type. However, the nuclear sites need special safety protection.

Similar valves are used in the steam cycles of coal, nuclear, CCGT and biomass power plants. The difference is that gas turbine power plants generate only 40 percent of the power with steam.

Depending on the generator selection, the valve expenditure can vary by 400 to 1. With the trend toward renewables in Europe the power plant valve market in this region will shrink. On the other hand, the Asian predilection for coal will result in good growth in this region over the next decade. For more information on N028 Industrial Valves: World Market, click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/115-n028

Utility E-Alert Tracks Billions of Dollars of New Coal-fired Power Plants on a Weekly Basis

§ Proposed 1,320 MW Astoria Ceyhan Power Station for Adana Province, Turkey

§ Proposed Adana Klikya 815 MW Supercritical Coal-fired Unit near Sugözü Village, Yumurtalık district, Adana Province, Turkey

The 41F Utility E-Alert is issued weekly and covers the coal-fired projects, regulations and other information important to the suppliers. It is $950/yr. but is included in the $3020 42EI Utility Tracking System which has data on every plant and project plus networking directories and many other features.