Air Toxic Regulations and Control is Hot Topic on Thursday, May 6th at 10
a.m. CDT
According to a settlement agreement reached last October in a federal lawsuit
brought against the U.S. EPA, the agency must adopt rules reducing major toxic
air pollutants from coal and oil-fired power plants by November 2011, by a
coalition of public health and environmental groups. If the proposed cement MACT
is any indicator, we can expect reductions of 90 percent or more in emissions of
mercury, arsenic, hydrochloric acid, and other HAP’s.
What will be the impact of the forthcoming rules on coal and oil-fired power
plants? There are still many questions that utility management needs to think
about. Is this the end of the almost decade long battle between the EPA and
environmental groups and will this settlement now give utilities the certainty
they need to make decisions affecting the next ten to twenty years of
operations? Once the expected MACT is issued will there be additional court
challenges? Are there proven control technologies available that will allow them
to economically achieve the reductions in air toxics being proposed at all of
their operating plants? How long will it take to bring existing plants into
compliance and at what cost? Do they have any other alternatives to achieve
compliance especially with their older and smaller plants? How will the expected
regulations on GHG emissions affect the decisions on technologies required to
control emissions of air toxics? Can the required emission levels even be
accurately measured?
The following presenters will address these and other issues related to the
status of the rule making and available technology for the control of air
toxics.
Robert A. Ashworth Sr., Vice-President for Technology at ClearStack Combustion
Corporation will discuss the Ashworth Gasifier-CombustorTM, a three-stage
pulverized coal oxidation technique that dramatically reduces the major air
pollutants (NOX, SO2, Hg and other air metal toxics) associated with coal
combustion. Why do we call it a clean “green coal” technology? Real pollutants
are removed and carbon dioxide is produced that does not cause the earth to
warm; it only increases plant growth.
John H. Pavlish, Senior Research Advisor, Energy & Environmental Research Center
(EERC), University of North Dakota (UND), Director of the Center for Air Toxic
Metals® Program, and the Manager of the Energy Conversion Systems Group at the
EERC. Through the Center for Air Toxic Metals® (CATM®), the Energy &
Environmental Research Center has been conducting trace metal research for
nearly two decades. While mercury has received greatest attention, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency will likely release regulations in later 2010
that cover several trace metals considered hazardous air pollutants. This
presentation will provide an overview from several projects showing trace metal
emissions from several full-scale plants of different configurations and coal
types.
Jon Norman, P.E., Technology Manager for United Conveyor Corporation Dry Sorbent
Injection (UCC DSI) will discuss how injection of hydrated lime, trona, or
sodium bicarbonate can be used cost-effectively to remove mercury, HCl/HF, and
other HAPs from coal-fired boilers for compliance with the impending MACT
standards. Results from full-scale testing will be presented. Strategies for
using dry sorbent injection's flexibility to control HAP emissions below MACT
applicability thresholds, and for controlling SO2 or SO3 emissions in
combination with HAP removal will also be explained.
Scott Evans, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs at Clean Air Engineering will
discuss the difficulties of measuring air toxics to prove compliance because of
the detection limits of currently available measurement technologies.
Natalie Vaught of Weston Solutions
To register for the "Hot Topic Hour" on May 6, 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
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com