The Subject of the Hot Topic Hour on July 9^th is Achieving 98 Percent  Scrubber Efficiency with Lime or Limestone

More stringent emissions regulations along with expectations of future CO₂ constraints have created a demand for wet lime or limestone scrubbers capable of achieving SO₂ removal efficiencies greater than 98 percent.  The Power industry also faces the issue that most of the existing, older flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems were not designed to meet the emissions requirements that are currently being adopted or considered.  However, the suppliers of FGD systems and the suppliers of critical components of the FGD have made many technological advances in the past few years to meet these challenges.  New FGD systems properly designed can meet the requirements of the coming regulations and prepare a power plant for future CO₂ capture.  Some of these same technologies can be applied to older FGDs to achieve greater efficiency and reduce operating expense.

The following speakers will discuss these technological advances and demonstrate how to achieve better than 98 percent efficiency and lower operating costs with new or existing FGDs.

Harald Reissner, head of process technology at AE&E AUSTRIA GmbH & Co. KG and developer of the Turbosorp^® CFB technology, will discuss utilization of CFD modelling to design a spray bank in the FGD absorber to achieve high efficiencies - up to 98 percent at plants burning high sulfur coals with SO₂ concentrations in the flue gas up to 5000 ppm.

Gordon Maller, a Principal Project Manager and Business Manager of the FGD aftermarket business area for URS Corporation, will describe technology available to upgrade the performance of older FGD systems to achieve ultra high removal efficiencies in excess of 98 percent along with high system reliability.  The technologies include improved spray header design, enhanced spray nozzle technology, liquid and gas distribution rings and dual-flow trays and the use of computer based modeling and simulation tools such as CFD to design and engineer an upgrade.

Matthew Quitadamo, Product Manager Babcock Power Environmental, Inc., (BPEI) will discuss several technological advances developed by BPEI to achieve reliable performance with SO₂ removal efficiencies in excess of 99 percent with their current scrubber designs.  Advances include better understanding of spray tower fluid dynamics, improved spray header design, and the development of absorber baffles to prevent gas bypass along the vessel walls.

Kevin Smith, Technical Manager Carmeuse North American Tech Center, will review the results of a comparative study of typical wet FGD methods used to achieve extremely low emissions of SO₂ and other acid gases in flue gas.

Greg Carleton, President Pollution Control Services, Inc., will describe how achieving 98 percent SO₂ removal using modern forced oxidation limestone scrubbing is achievable on a 24/7 basis by following good scrubbing operating practices along with reliable instrumentation.  Proper pump and spray nozzle configuration with side wall anti-sneak baffles for open vessel units is permitting 98 percent SO₂ removal efficiencies on the high sulfur fuels. 

Ghassem Manavi, Deputy General Manager, Environmental Systems Division (Advatech JV), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

To register for the “Hot Topic Hour” on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. CDT, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/FGDnetoppbroch/Default1.htm .

Bob McIlvaine

847 784-0012 ext. 112

rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com