October 19, 2006

Recorded Hot Topic Hours are the Latest Step Forward

Six Hot Topic Hours (actually averaging two hours each) are now available as recordings. It is amazing that with the streaming media server that all the big memory requirements for video and audio are handled with ease. In fact the recorded versions are equal to the original in all respects. Many people who had schedule conflicts can now view and listen to these recordings at their leisure. We believe that these recordings will be invaluable training tools. When used in conjunction with the Decision Trees the balance of basics and advanced analysis is provided. The comparison between the present Internet-based system and the original McIlvaine Scrubber Manual with loose leaf pages is staggering.

The live Hot Topic Hours are lacking only personal contact. We hope to partially bridge this gap by asking presenters to email us pictures prior to the discussion. As an example, five minutes before the Hot Topic Hour began a cell phone picture of Bob McIlvaine was taken and posted into the system. Steve Francis of ALSTOM and Terry Kane of GMT were the first presenters to supply pictures. So we continue to make advances.

Accessing the recordings is really easy. We are posting the passwords to each session in Power Plant Air Quality Decisions and Utility Environmental Upgrade Tracking System home page. With the password you can view any of the Hot Topic discussions as well as if you were participating in the original. In fact there is a volume adjustment which is mouse manipulated so you can adjust to each speaker quite easily.

As you can appreciate while the advent of the recorded Hot Topic Hour is a substantial added value it is also a substantial added cost. Access to these recordings is allowed only to registered subscribers or those who pay the access fee.

Low Sulfur Particulate Hot Topic Hour Value Enhanced by the Decision Tree

The Hot Topic Hours in conjunction to the Decision Trees are designed to help utilities make decisions. On Thursday we had hundreds of years of fabric filter experience available to advise utilities of their particulate control options when burning low sulfur coal. All this expertise was necessary to help one western utility who participated. This plant is a target because of regional haze. It is facing tough State mercury limits and presently it only has a decades old dry ESP with flue gas conditioning.

The plant is considering a range of options. One would be to continue to operate the ESP and install a spray drier baghouse. Another is to install a new baghouse and wet limestone FGD. There are big differences in conditions between the two baghouse applications. As a result the selection of fibers, media, coatings, and cleaning mechanisms are not the same. Some of the options such as membranes vs. coatings and the ability to meet emission limits as low as 0.02lbs/MMBtu PM_2.5 including condensibles were discussed.

Now that the recording is available we do not have to summarize all the words of wisdom. As you can see from the following list of presenters it is well worth taking the two hours to view/hear the recording

List of Presenters And Panelists

Scott Lucas

Albarrie

President of Albarrie Canada

Scott has been with the company for over a decade and was recently promoted to President.

Steve Francis

Alstom Power, Inc.

Product Development Manager for Power/Particulate for the Environmental Control Systems Division 

Terrence Kane

GMT

Product Development Manager

Terry is spearheading the effort to sell a filter media that operates at high temperature.

John Darrow

W.L. Gore

One of the few people with several decades of experience with no company name changes. John has been closely identified with the development of membranes for dust control.

Mark Aitken

Degussa

Mgr. Sales America

Mark has North American responsibilities and has participated in previous Hot Topics and the Power-Gen Europe discussions hosted by McIlvaine.

Terry McKenna

Filtex

Terry is one of the old guard in the industry with 30 yrs experience dating back to when Wheelabrator was in the bag business. Terry has been an independent fiber representative since 1988.

Jim Griffin

Tetratec-Donaldson

Manager, Products-Industrial Filters

Recognized as a media expert with long experience in the fabric filter industry. Jim developed the square footer which has a great potential as a guarantee verification tool.

Richard Miller

ADA-ES

Rich was a long time key baghouse expert at Hamon before joining ADA-ES.