"Lime vs. Limestone" was the Hot Topic Hour September 18

Speakers were

Folke Friesen – Evonik Energy Services, LLC

Tony Licata – Babcock Power Environmental

Kevin Smith – Dravo Technology, wholly-owned subsidiary of Carmeuse North America

Folke provided insights into the growing use of lime in German power plants. Lime consumption is now 25 percent of the total. The reason is the higher efficiency and lower overall life cycle costs. The big saving is in pump horsepower. Folke said that chalk is a good option. Sea shells turn to chalk and eventually to limestone. There are chalk deposits in the U.S. although maybe not as prevalent as those in the Baltic Sea. The participants indicated that this is a good area for more investigation.

Tony described two successful lime scrubber startups in the U.S. He believes that owners and engineers should not be so quick to dismiss the wet lime option. Lower life cycle costs are obtained under certain site specific conditions including the differential delivered cost of lime as opposed to limestone. He made the point that limestone delivery includes costs of diesel fuel for transport where as lime is dependent on the coal price at the kiln.

Kevin explained that Carmeuse has revived the Dravo name and the charter to take a holistic approach to reagent selection. They are researching issues such as lime forced oxidation. Magnesium enhanced lime has many advantages including the ability to generate magnesium hydroxide.

McIlvaine believes that inhibited oxidation lime is a good alternative for small older plants. The capital cost is lower. Since the expected life is less than newer plants, the capital cost is significant. The elimination of an expensive gypsum wash water cleanup system is another reason to select this option.

Bios, photos and abstracts are displayed at http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/utilityalert/subscriber/UtilityE-Alert/2008/bios, photos and abstracts Hot Topic Hour Sept. 18, 2008.htm

The individual power points are in the FGD Decision Tree and can be viewed as follows.

Kevin Smith - Carmeuse

FGD Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Dravo Technology for Lime and Limestone. Presented by Kevin Smith. Hot Topic Hour September 18, 2008.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/FGD_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Kevin Smith - Carmeuse, Sept. 18 Hot Topic Hour.pdf
 

Anthony Licata and Clayton Erickson – Babcock Power
Folke Friesen - Evonik

FGD Continuing Decision Process For: Calcium

Babcock Power and Evonik presentations are found in the link below.

Lime vs. Limestone for Wet and Dry FGD

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/FGD_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/calcium.htm