Measuring Particulate Continuously is Hot Topic Hour on December 1, 2011
Since the Utility MACT was first proposed by the EPA in May, many persons have
expressed concern over the ability of the industry to accurately measure mass
particulates at the limits proposed by EPA. In various presentations both during
McIlvaine Company Hot Topic Hours and elsewhere, concerned parties have
questioned the accuracy and efficacy of the EPA test procedures. Some have
presented evidence of errors and biases in and between various test procedures.
Measurement accuracy can have a serious impact on existing sources that may not
meet the new limits once the MACT and the proposed test methods within it and
the Cross State Air Pollution (transport) Rule (CSAPR) become the law of the
land.
The following speakers will describe the current and proposed methods for
continuous measurement of particulates, tell participants what they need to do
to ensure accurate, repeatable data and to discuss the implications for the
utility industry of errors in their measurement data.
Derek Stuart, Market Sector Manager for Combustion and Environmental at AMETEK
Land, will discuss opacity measurement for determining the PM in stack gases.
The use of transmissometry to measure smoke and dust emissions from stacks dates
back to the work of Professor Ringelmann in the 19th century. For many years,
continuous opacity monitors have been used to demonstrate compliance with
emissions regulations in the USA. Calibrating an opacity monitor to measure PM
according to 40 CFR 60 Appendix B Performance Standard 11 is relatively
straightforward and provides a direct, reliable measurement of PM concentration.
David Moll, Senior Program Manager at AECOM Environment, will discuss the
different types of continuous particulate emission monitors, their measurement
techniques and limitations to perform measurements on certain emission sources.
He will review EPA certification requirements for PM CEMs and the EPA test
procedures used to correlate these instruments. He will also discuss upcoming
challenges for industry if included in the final Utility MACT regulations.
Craig Clapsaddle, BetaGuard PM Sales Manager at Mechanical Systems, Inc, will
briefly describe the MSI BetaGuard PM CEM and discuss what companies can do to
insure accurate, repeatable data from their PM CEMs.
Anand Mamidipudi, Product Line Manager, Systems at Thermo Fisher
Scientific/Thermo Environmental Instruments.
Kevin Crosby, Technical Director at The Avogadro Group, LLC, Stationary Source
Testing
The EPA Performance Specification for PM CEMS requires a significant amount of
testing for determination of the system's accuracy and precision. The
presentation will describe the daily and periodic procedures required to assure
the quality of the data from the monitoring system. These include initial
calibration and correlation testing, daily calibration checks and quarterly
audits - Absolute Correlation Audits, Response Correlation Audits and Relative
Response Audits. These procedures include a significant number of particulate
emission test runs using EPA reference methods, so costs can become significant.
Some potential certification and auditing problems will be described so that
plant personnel may plan for success and for cost control.
To register for this “Hot Topic Hour” on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 10 a.m.
CST, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/hot_topic_hour_registration.htm.
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Here are the Headlines for the November 18, 2011 – Utility E Alert
UTILITY E-ALERT
#1051 – November 18, 2011
Table of Contents
COAL – US
NIPSCO to spend $5 Billion for Power-System Upgrades
Old Dominion’s Surry County Power Project Debated
State Line to close in 2012
COAL – WORLD
Conal Holdings to develop 100 MW Power Plant at Barangay Talisayan,
Philippines
1,040 MW Hinduja Project, Andhra Pradesh, India, needs to be Decided
Pöyry awarded Project Management Consultancy Services Contract for a New 1,200
MW Supercritical Coal-fired Power Plant Project in Vietnam
BGR Energy has Order for 2x300 MW Power Plants in Chhattisgarh, India
Jindal Power to build 2400 MW Tamnar Power Plant in Chhattisgarh, India
Harbin to provide Boilers for 1320 MW Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India Power
Project
GAS / OIL – US
EPA approves California Palmdale Gas-fired/Solar Power Plant
Dominion has Preliminary Approval for Chesterfield Power Plant
GAS / OIL – WORLD
Japan’s Kobe Steel to install Second Combined Cycle Unit at Kakogawa Works
BHP Billiton approves 190 MW Gas-fired Power Station in Australia’s Pilbara
Region
Alstom to build 182 MW Diyala Power Plant in Iraq
Siemens to build 250 MW La Caridad II Power Plant in Mexico
Eemsmond Combined Cycle Power Plant delayed
Sasol to build 140 MW Power Plant in Mozambique
GE to invest in Natural Gas-fired Power Plant, uprate Hybrid Plant in Turkey
BIOMASS
SSE receives Consent for 108 MW Ferrybridge Multi-fuel Project
Andritz Energy & Environment to supply BFB Boiler for New Biomass Power Plant
operated by E.ON in the UK
CO2
Ameren Pulls out of FutureGen, Putting Project in Jeopardy
SSE and Shell Agree to Accelerate Pre-FEED Work on Peterhead CCS Project
Alstom and Datang Will Explore Large Scale Oxy-Combustion CCS Project in China
China GHG Emissions up 34 Percent since 2006, Next 5-Year Plan Seeks to
Achieve Greater Efficiencies
NUCLEAR
Turkey has no Plans to Cooperate with Iran on Nuclear Power
NuGen has Approval to begin Siting Nuclear Power Plant in the UK
BUSINESS
Mercury Control Market to Soar with New Utility Toxic Regulations
HOT TOPIC HOUR
“Measuring Particulate Continuously” is Hot Topic Hour on December 1, 2011
Upcoming Hot Topic Hours
For more information on the Utility Environmental Upgrade Tracking System, click
on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/energy.html#42ei.
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Mercury Control Market to Soar with New Utility Toxic Regulations
A $1 billion per year new market will be created with the promulgation of the
rule to require Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) for utility power
generators in the U.S. Revenues will be a mix of capital equipment and
consumables according to the McIlvaine Company in its continually updated,
Mercury Air Reduction Markets.
This one rule will completely transform the activated carbon industry in the
U.S. The big market in the past has been to treat water. The usage is 500
million pounds per year. The usage in air treatment was less than 50 million
pounds per year but sharply increased in the past two years as a number of
utilities were required to meet MACT rules promulgated by individual states.
When the Federal MACT rule takes effect, the utility air market alone will
exceed the water market. The industry has anticipated the demand. The
traditional suppliers, Calgon Carbon and Norit, have expanded capacity.
Albemarle has acquired Sorbent Technologies and positioned itself as a major
supplier. ADA-ES has entered the market with construction of a large activated
carbon plant.
There is considerable uncertainty about the ultimate size of the market. On one
hand, there is attractive potential for activated carbon in related
applications. Presently, selenium is being captured in power plant scrubbers. It
is subsequently removed from the wastewater with an expensive biological
wastewater treatment system. Plants with scrubbers would not normally consider
activated carbon purchases. However, the removal of the selenium may warrant the
purchase.
Another use in scrubbers is to recirculate activated carbon in the scrubber
slurry. Evonik has pioneered this approach as a means of removing the mercury
from the wastewater sludge. The mercury laden carbon is separated from the
wastewater using hydrocyclones. This allows disposal of the sludge as a
non-hazardous material.
There is also negative uncertainty, as other chemicals will take market share
away from activated carbon. There are some sorbents which are injected in a
manner identical to activated carbon. The purpose is to adsorb the mercury by
presenting a large surface area. So far none of these has proven to be more cost
effective.
The bigger threat comes from chemicals injected with the coal for the purpose of
chemical change rather than adsorption. Oxides of mercury are much more soluble
than elemental mercury. Halogen compounds including bromium and chlorine can
oxidize most of the mercury in the flue gas. The result is that scrubbers can
then efficiently remove the oxides. The uncertainty arises relative to how
efficient this removal process may be.
The uncertainty is increased by the wide variations between fuels and boiler
types and the many factors which influence efficiency of removal. There is
further uncertainty as to the influence of the multi-pollutant requirement
impact on mercury removal choices. The necessity to remove hydrogen chloride and
toxic metals other than mercury is a factor.
Ultimately the PM2.5 ambient air quality rules may have the largest impact on
mercury reduction choices. Conceivably they could force scrubbers to achieve 98
percent or even 99 percent SO2 removal. This would dictate the use of wet rather
than dry scrubbers. It would dictate chemical oxidation rather than adsorption.
The impact of PM2.5 is not likely to manifest itself until 2016 or 2017 and
maybe even later. In fact, if the rest of the U.S. follows the Los Angeles
example, it will be a slow process. A state will promulgate one rule assuming
this will meet the ambient air target. A few years later, when it is clear that
additional reduction is necessary, it will promulgate another rule, so
compliance could take decades.
Utilities are likely to take a two-stage approach. The capital investment in
activated carbon injection equipment is modest. So many companies may ultimately
remove mercury first with activated carbon and later with chemical oxidation and
scrubbing.
For more information on Mercury Air Reduction Markets http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/air.html#n056
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Solar Technology Constantly Improves
Advances in solar technology are being made at a steady rate. A few of the
recent improvements reported in McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Update and Projects
follow.
*****
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the offer of a conditional commitment
for a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies, Inc. for the development
of a multicrystalline wafer manufacturing project. The project will be capable
of producing approximately 700 to 1,000 MW of silicon-based wafers annually
using a revolutionary manufacturing process called Direct Wafer. The innovative
process could reduce manufacturing costs of the wafers by approximately 50
percent, dramatically cutting the cost of solar power. Phase 1 of the project
will be located in Lexington, MA and is expected to generate 70 permanent jobs
and 50 construction jobs. The company is evaluating site locations for another
planned phase, which they anticipate will create hundreds of additional jobs.
*****
First Solar, Inc. announced it set a new world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe)
PV solar cell efficiency, reaching 17.3 percent with a test cell constructed
using commercial-scale manufacturing equipment and materials. The test cell’s
performance, confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable
Energy Lab (NREL), far surpassed the previous record of 16.7 percent set in
2001.
The average efficiency of First Solar modules produced in the first quarter of
2011 was 11.7 percent, up from 11.1 percent a year earlier, and the company has
recorded full-module efficiencies over 13.5 percent, with a 13.4 percent module
confirmed by NREL. First Solar’s module efficiency roadmap sets a goal for
production-module efficiencies of 13.5-14.5 percent by the end of 2014.
*****
XsunX, Inc., the developer of CIGSolar™ , a hybrid, thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV)
solar cell manufacturing process, announced that the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) certified the peak efficiency conversion of 16.36 percent
achieved by XsunX, Inc. for Copper-Indium-Gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS)
photovoltaic devices.
Overall efficiency of tested samples ranged from15.3 percent to 16.36 percent
producing an average efficiency of 15.91 percent. The sample provided to NREL
was part of a 125mm substrate which after deposition was sub-divided into
quadrants to produce NREL device test structures and analytical equipment test
structures. The purpose was to provide a statistically significant body of data
in support of XsunX’s continuous process improvement efforts.
The company’s technology utilizes co-evaporation for rapid deposition of
final-sized cells to better control the complex management of the CIGS layer
deposition process. The company’s method, unlike other CIGS manufacturing
technology, begins and ends using individual substrates sized to match silicon
cells. In addition to providing for a smaller and more precise deposition
environment, this also helps to avid performance losses experienced when cells
are either cut from rolls of CIGS material or mismatched electrically in
monolithic assemblies.
*****
Southwest Solar Technologies, Inc. announced the successful on-sun testing and
proof of concept of a high temperature air receiver. The high temperature air
receiver is a prototype test component to validate the design for the advanced
solar-turbine power system being developed by the company. The company’s system
uses a parabolic solar dish with mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy to
power a high-efficiency turbine engine and produce electricity.
The testing was conducted using the company’s, 320 square meter solar
concentrating dish, the largest solar dish in North America. The dish is capable
of delivering over a quarter megawatt of thermal energy in the form of
concentrated sunlight, focusing the equivalent heat of 2,000 suns into the
proprietary design “receiver.” Inside this receiver compressed air is
super-heated to power a high speed turbine alternator. Initial testing was
conducted with attenuation screens on the dish to reduce the input energy to 50
kWth, approximately 20 percent of full capacity. Even at this reduced power, the
receiver operated at the temperature goal of 925 C (1700 F), and met goals for
efficiency.
“This high temperature performance achieved far exceeds typical 400°C
temperature of other concentrating solar power (CS) systems, such as trough and
power towers, that use steam turbine technology to produce electricity, and the
system requires no water cooling. The company’s unique air based turbine cycle,
operating at much higher temperatures, is designed to achieve greater than 30
percent efficiency. This efficiency would far exceed typical PV or other CSP
solar power systems,” said Herb Hayden, Chief Technical Officer.
*****
Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell
technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, announced
that it is consulting with outside manufacturing experts to optimize the
prototype design for low-cost mass production.
Inspired by light management techniques used in fiber optic devices, the
company’s innovative solar cell technology utilizes a 3-dimensional design to
trap sunlight inside micro-photovoltaic structures where photons bounce around
until they are converted into electrons. Solar3D’s management believes that this
breakthrough solar cell design will dramatically change the economics of solar
energy.
For more information on Renewable Energy Projects and Update please visit
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/Renewable_Energy_Projects_Brochure/renewable_energy_projects_brochure.htm
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Bob McIlvaine
President
847 784 0012 ext 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
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191 Waukegan Road Suite 208 | Northfield | IL 60093
Ph: 847-784-0012 | Fax; 847-784-0061
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