52 Companies Buy 52 Percent of All the NOx Control Reagents Purchased
by Stationary Sources
Sales of NOx control reagents for coal-fired power plants will reach
$3 billion in 2016. This represents 75 percent of the reagents which will
be purchased for stationary applications. Seven companies will account for
44 percent of the purchases by coal-fired power plants and 33 percent of the
purchases by all stationary sources.
NOx Control Reagent
Purchases
|
||||||
# Of Corp |
SCR/SNCR Capacity For Each
MW x 1000 |
Total MW 1000 |
% of Total
Coal-fired Installed Base |
Reagent
Purchases
$ Millions |
% of Total
$26
Billion |
Examples |
7 |
Over 50 |
575 |
44 |
1,320 |
33 |
Big 5 Chinese Corp |
10 |
10-50 |
150 |
12 |
360 |
9 |
AEP, TVA, Duke, Enel, EON |
15 |
5-10 |
105 |
8 |
240 |
6 |
NRG, Xcel, Tokyo Electric, Chubu
Electric |
20 |
3-5 |
80 |
6 |
180 |
4.5 |
AES, EPDC, RWE, CEZ |
52 |
Sub total |
910 |
70 |
2,100 |
52 |
|
350 |
0-3 |
390 |
30 |
900 |
22 |
U.S., Europe, China |
404 |
Total |
1,300 |
100 |
3,000 |
74 |
|
Operators of coal-fired power plants inject nitrogen compounds in one form or
another into the exhaust gas to react with the NOx. The result of the
reaction is nitrogen and water. This process reduces up to 95 percent of ozone
and smog producing NOx.
The nitrogen compound formulation is largely determined by economics and safety
considerations. The least expensive compound is anhydrous ammonia.
It is routinely used by farmers but does create safety hazards if not handled
carefully. Aqueous ammonia includes enough water to minimize safety concerns but
adds a cost to the process. Solid urea can be delivered to the power plant
and converted to ammonia on site. This option requires investment in
capital equipment.
Typically, power plants near cities opt for alternatives to anhydrous ammonia
while those in rural areas use the lower cost option. China has chosen the
use of urea with on-site conversion for most of its power plants. It has
the most NOx control installations, so its selection has reduced the
dominance of anhydrous.
The 5 largest Chinese suppliers are among the top 7 NOx system
operators in the world. These 7 companies will buy 44 percent of the NOx
control reagents in 2016. The next 10 companies, most of whom are
U.S.-based, will account for 12 percent of the reagent purchased by power plants
and 9 percent of all the reagent purchased by stationary sources.
The concentration of the reagent purchases into this small group of companies
means that suppliers can sell directly throughout the world. There are
purity differences in ammonia and other reasons that suppliers can provide value
beyond purchased cost. McIlvaine has developed a program to help suppliers
focus on the large purchasers. Detailed
Forecasting of Markets, Prospects and Projects.
This program combines the following:
59EI Gas
Turbine and Combined Cycle Supplier Program
Industrial Air Plants and Projects
The Market for Mercury Removal Will Be Growing Robustly In the Next Decade
Recent estimates of annual global mercury emissions from both natural and
anthropogenic sources are in the range of 5,000 to 8,000 metric tons per year.
These estimates include mercury that is re-emitted.
The U.S. EPA analyzed the harm from mercury and came to the conclusion that
reduction expenditures as high as $30,000 per pound would be warranted. On
this basis the potential market for mercury removal would be $300 billion per
year. However, the cost of removal of some mercury will be as low as
$1000/ton. The cost is related to efficiency of removal. So, if only
60 percent of the world’s mercury or 3,000 tons per year were eliminated, the
cost would be closer to $5,000/ton so the annual market would be $15 billion/yr.
This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in
Mercury Air Reduction Markets.
The market is presently well over $1 billion per year. U.S. coal-fired
power plants are accelerating their expenditures to meet the new air toxic
regulations which will be enforced from 2016 forward Most waste incinerators
around the world are removing mercury.
Most mercury expenditures are justified by the reduction in environmental harm.
However, some segments of the market are driven by other considerations.
The natural gas industry needs to remove mercury to protect equipment and
pipelines.
Mercury is present in many natural gas streams. While mercury levels can
vary greatly, even low levels must be removed to avoid damage to downstream
equipment. Current methods for removing mercury from natural gas and
condensate use fixed beds of mercury removal materials. There are three
types of materials: sulfur impregnated activated carbon, metal sulfides or
oxides on an alumina carrier, and silver impregnated molecular sieves.
Carbon-based sorbents are the most commonly used, but the trend is towards a
greater use of metal sulfides in order to remove higher concentrations of
mercury and for occupational safety and environmental reasons.
The market for mercury removal adsorbents is primarily a function that the
amount of natural gas produced and the average concentration of mercury in the
gas. However, the concentration of mercury in natural gas varies greatly
from region to region, from a low of 0.02 µg/Nm3 in the Gulf of
Mexico to 300 to 400 µg/Nm3 in Southeast Asia. Consequently,
the largest natural gas producing regions are not necessarily the largest
markets for mercury removal products.
There is a large current investment in LNG facilities in South East Asia. It is
estimated that mercury reduction processes will account for 1 percent of the
capital investment. Expenditures for equipment and replacement sorbents
for natural gas from all sources will exceed $150 million/yr. in the short-term
and will increase at more than 6%/yr.
China is the largest growth market. There are scrubbers on more than
800,000 MW of coal-fired capacity. The potential market in coal-fired
power generation is four times larger than the U.S. market. China also has
five times the cement capacity as the U.S. A large potential market is
coal gasification. To put it in perspective China’s coal consumption just
for gasification will equal 10 percent of the U.S. coal-fired generator coal
consumption. Since this gas must be pipeline quality, the mercury removal
expenditures will be very substantial. The likely technology to be employed is
carbon beds similar to those installed by Eastman Chemical in a
coal-to-chemicals plant in Tennessee.
For more information on
Mercury Air Reduction Markets,
click on:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/85-n056
Military Welcomes Solar Installations
The Alabama Public Service Commission gave its approval for Alabama Power to
build a 10.6 MW solar facility at Anniston Army Depot and a 10.6 MW solar
facility at Fort Rucker. Alabama Power awarded Strata Solar the engineering,
procurement and construction contract for these projects. Installation is set to
begin in the first quarter of 2016.
Mississippi Power is collaborating with three solar energy businesses and the
U.S. Navy to build 105 MW of utility scale solar electric generating farms at
three different locations in the company’s service territory. For one of the
three projects Mississippi Power, Hannah Solar and the U.S. Navy are partnering
on a 23 acre, 3-4 MW solar project to be located at The Naval Construction
Battalion Center (Seabee Base) in Gulfport.
McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Updates keeps the reader
informed of upcoming renewable energy project.
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
McIlvaine Hot Topic Hours and Recordings
McIlvaine webinars offer the opportunity to view the latest presentations and
join discussions while sitting at your desk. Hot Topic Hours cater to the end
users as well as suppliers while the Market Updates cater to the suppliers and
investors. Since McIlvaine records and provides streaming media access to
these webinars there is a treasure trove of value only a click away. McIlvaine
webinars are free to certain McIlvaine service subscribers. There is a charge
for others. Hot Topic Hours are free to owner/operators. Sponsored
webinars provide insights to particular products and services. They are
free. Recordings can be immediately viewed from the list provided below.
DATE |
UPCOMING HOT TOPIC HOUR |
UPCOMING MARKET UPDATES |
December 3, 2015 |
NOx Reduction |
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Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext. 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com