Thousands of U.S. Water and Wastewater Plants Purchase Lime Based Products Each Year

Lime products soften water by removing carbonate and non-carbonate hardness.  This purifies the water for consumption, provides better tasting water and allows soap products to lather readily. Many of the 18,000 municipal drinking water facilities purchase lime.

Lime is used in municipal wastewater treatment to stabilize biosolids by killing pathogens, viruses and reducing vector attraction to produce high quality fertilizers for the agricultural industry. It also has other uses.

·       Reducing biosolids odors and improving handling through drying.

·       Ensuring pH and alkalinity are correct to optimize biological treatment operations.

·       Adjusting pH and alkalinity to optimize coagulation and flocculation settling processes.

·       Controlling nutrients like phosphorus as lime precipitates phosphorous to very low levels without biological treatment.

A sizable number of the 16,000 municipal wastewater treatment plants also use lime. A city may combine purchases and buy lime for multiple water and wastewater plants in an annual contract. Some contracts are as short as six months and some as long as five years.

McIlvaine Company tracks bids for the purpose of helping lime companies understand when lime will be ordered, the quantities which will be needed, and the prices which are likely to be paid. Since a plant typically orders lime for the same period as previously and in the same month, it is possible to create a useful plant-by-plant pattern and predict the next order timing and amount.

* Could be for previous year

The pricing shown in the chart does not necessarily reflect the price paid in the current year. The prices vary greatly based on the location of the lime supplier and the availability of the product. Prices also vary by the particle size and treatment.

The details on the plants and projects are found at:

62EI North American Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facilities and People Database

67EI North American Public Water Plants and People

Analysis of the market is provided in a lime supplier market support system. For more information on this system contact:  editor@mcilvainecompany.com

$7 Billion/Yr. Market for Filtration and Separation to Improve Product Quality

The markets for filtration and separation equipment and services can be segmented based on four major process categories:

·       Water intake and purification

·       Cooling and auxiliary process support

·       Wastewater treatment

·       Product quality and recovery

The $7 billion/yr. product quality and recovery market is the most profitable segment of the filtration and separation industry.  Filtration and separation is critical to product quality and recovery in:

·       Food and beverage

·       Chemicals

·       Pharmaceuticals

·       Petroleum products

The safety, color, consistency, taste and other qualities affecting food and beverage salability are modified by centrifuges, cartridges, filter presses, cross-flow membranes, automatic backwash filters, and filter bags.

Many chemical processes are a series of filtration and separation stages.  Separation of the final product from the intermediate is a major stage in pharmaceutical preparation.  Product purification is a series of filtration and separation stages in petroleum refining.

The largest single use of filtration and separation to improve product quality is in direct liquefaction of coal.  The steps are size reduction, filtration and hydrogenation.  The cost of thermal treatment used in conventional indirect gasification is avoided.  A large coal liquefaction plant would have a filtration investment of over $50 million.

Filtration and separation profit margins from the segments dealing with product quality are higher than other segments for the following reasons:

·       Higher investment is easily justified by a better product.

·       Each application technology is unique.  This creates a barrier to entry for those suppliers without the knowledge.

The product quality and recovery applications are addressed in the following McIlvaine publications:

N024 Cartridge Filters: World Market

N020 RO, UF, MF World Market

N006 Liquid Filtration and Media World Markets

N005 Sedimentation and Centrifugation World Markets 

A Multitude of Hot Gas Filter Decisions Needed Due To Regulatory andTechnology Developments

Operators of power plants, industrial boilers, cement kilns and waste incinerators have been challenged by both regulatory and technology developments which increase the number of decisions which have to be made regarding hot gas filtration.

New regulations applying to combustion sources in the U.S., China and other countries require removal of particles to levels 90 percent lower than required a decade ago. Older precipitators are not capable of compliance with the new standards. New alternative technologies may create water and solid waste problems. In fact, a number of different decision trees have to be viewed in order to make the best decisions.

Many older plants are candidates for retirement or fuel switching. The costs of this approach have to be compared to the cost of upgrades to meet the new rules.  This is not a sequential process. Discoveries in one decision tree lead the analyst back to the previous tree.  A new direct sorbent injection approach will greatly lessen the capital cost but will make flyash unsalable.  If this ash has to be sent to a hazardous waste landfill, the costs would be enormous.  However, some technology upgrades could provide a salable mix of reaction products and ash.

New filter media allows consideration of replacing just precipitator internals.  But, if the required pressure increase is more than the existing fan can handle, then the analyst needs to look carefully at the whole process decision tree.  A new catalytic filter with direct sorbent injection offers the potential to remove three pollutants in one device. The biggest advantage may be the creation of clean gas at 850^oF. This provides some very important energy recovery alternatives but requires retracing the analysis of the water and solid waste, process and technology decision trees.

McIlvaine offers services for both the combustion plant operator and the supplier.

The Hot Gas Filtration Global Decisions Positioning System™ (GdPS) provides a road map for all the participants.

Power Plant Systems and Components  provides a free decision system for operators.

44I Power Plant Air Quality Decisions  provides the decision system for suppliers.

Headlines for Utility E-Alert – March 20, 2015

UTILITY E-ALERT

#1215– March 20, 2015

Table of Contents

COAL – US

·       We Energies will hold on to Upper Peninsula Coal-fired Power Plant

·       Martin Drake Coal-fired Power Plant resumes Operations after Fire last Year

·       Rockport, Indiana Coal Gasification Project Canceled

·       Medical Center may convert Power Plant to Natural Gas

COAL – WORLD

·       Orascom, IPIC to build 3,000 MW Coal-fired Power Plant in Egypt

·       Japan to develop Coal-fired Power Plant in Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia

·       Beijing shuts down Major Coal-fired Power Plant to Cut Pollution

GAS/OIL – US

·       Maryland PSC to take longer with review of revamped Mattawoman Gas-fired Power Project

GAS/OIL – WORLD

·       Siemens to build 4.4 GW Beni Suef Power Plant in Egypt

·       Gas-fired Power Plant for Walvis Bay, Nambia

·       E.ON withdraws Killingholme CCGT Power Plant from Grid

BIOMASS

·       $90 Million Kauai Energy Plant to begin selling Power to Utility in May

NUCLEAR

·       Diablo Nuclear Power Plant Safe from Extreme Natural Events

BUSINESS

·       Air Pollution Markets shifting toward Asia

·       Lawsuit could impact R.E. Ginna, Cayuga Power Plants

HOT TOPIC HOUR

·       Hot Topic Hour Yesterday (March 19) offers Perspective on the Ground Limestone, Catalytic Filter, and also a Hybrid SDA

·       “NOx Control Options” analyzed in March 26, 2015 Hot Topic Hour

·       Upcoming Hot Topic Hours

For more information on the Utility Tracking System, click on:  http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/databases/2-uncategorised/89-42ei

McIlvaine Hot Topic Hour Registration

On Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. Central time, McIlvaine hosts a 90 minute web meeting on important energy and pollution control subjects.  These Webinars are free of charge to owner/operators of the plants. They are also free to McIlvaine Subscribers of Power Plant Air Quality Decisions and Utility Tracking System.  The cost for others is $300.00 per webinar.

See below for information on upcoming Hot Topic Hours.  We welcome your input relative to suggested additions.

Click here for the Subscriber and Power Plant or Cement Plant Owner/Operator Registration Form

Click here for the Non-Subscribers Registration Form

----------

You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=5

Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com