Fuel Impacts on SCR Catalysts (including biomass) is Hot Topic Hour on February 11
SCR is the most common technology used to control NOx emissions in flue gas streams from combustion sources including power steam boilers, gas-or oil-fired turbines, industrial process boilers and heaters and waste incinerators because an SCR is usually more effective than other methods. These various combustion sources use a wide variety of fuels including natural gas and various process gases, various grades of oil, cokes, coals, industrial and municipal wastes and a wide variety of biomass products. Each of these fuels has a very different chemical composition which will result in flue gases with widely different physical and chemical compositions.
In many cases, high concentrations of elements or compounds such as sodium, potassium, sulfur and alkali-metal aerosols will poison the catalyst and result in shorter life. Other components, such as phosphorous and some fly ash or soot can cause severe fouling of the catalyst surface and essentially block the NOx from reaching an active catalyst surface. Each of these fuels presents a specific challenge to the designer of SCR in order to achieve acceptable catalyst life without excessive maintenance or cleaning.
With the power industry facing increasing mandates for use of renewable fuels (energy) and both the power industry and industrial concerns faced with requirements to reduce their carbon footprint (CO2 emissions), there is increasing interest in the utilization of biomass and municipal and industrial wastes either by co-firing with their primary fossil fuel (usually coal) or by converting an existing combustion process to burn biomass or waste. Since most of these facilities already have SCRs that were designed for operation with the original fuel, what will be the affect of the new fuel on the operation, efficiency and life of the SCR catalyst? Over the past few years, considerable research has been done on the affect of fuel type on catalyst operation. Life and catalyst manufacturers and SCR suppliers have developed solutions to some of these problems.
The following speakers will discuss the SCRs and catalysts they provide for facilities combusting various fuels and their experience with the catalysts used in these SCRs.
Michael Cooper, Vice-President of Technology, CoaLogix/SCR-Tech LLC will discuss the primary deactivation mechanisms for the catalyst in SCRs on sources burning a wide variety of fuels. As SCR catalyst regeneration company, SCR-Tech has seen all types of catalyst; plate, honeycomb and corrugated with all types of poisoning and plugging from many different plant locations. For example, the catalysts in SCRs on boilers combusting PRB coal, high sulfur content pet-coke and even those fired with gas each have different modes of deactivation.
Greg Holscher, Senior Applications Engineer at CERAM Environmental, Inc., a US subsidiary of CERAM Frauenthal Catalyst of Austria, will discuss the facility factors that affect SCR catalyst deactivation based on fuel type including biomass. CERAM’s experience spans nearly all possible SCR configurations (high dust, low dust and tail-end) and for nearly every conceivable fuel type. CERAM has experience with applications that fire 100 percent biomass and co-fire biomass in the high dust, low dust and tail-end arrangement. There are several factors that will affect catalyst deactivation that include boiler type, SCR arrangement, type of fuel and corresponding operating conditions. An overview of these factors will be discussed in this presentation.
Marilynn Martin, Engineering Director at Evonik-ES, will discuss their experience with catalyst deactivation.
To register for the “Hot Topic Hour” on February 11, 2010 at 10 a.m. CDT (Chicago time), click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/FGDnetoppbroch/Default1.htm.
Bob McIlvaine
President
847 784 0012 ext 112