“New Developments in Air Pollution Control Technology” -- the Hot Topic Hour on July 11, 2013

The Hot Topic Hour yesterday reflected the progress being made to meet unique requirements of the new air toxic rules.

Sheila Glesmann, Senior Vice President Environmental and External Affairs at ADA Carbon Solutions, LLC, presented “Advances in Activated Carbons.” ADA Carbon Solutions is working closely with EGUs to develop and conduct test programs, demonstrate new and innovative sorbents that address niche needs and drive down the cost of compliance through improved PAC design. Second and third generation PAC designs are substantial improved in terms of performance and cost.

Michael D. Schantz, Director, Flue Gas Treatment Solutions at Lhoist North America, explained that a new hydrated lime with more surface area and some chemical enhancement is performing far better than conventional hydrated lime. If the lime is injected after the air heater, it will preferentially remove HCl. It can therefore be used in front of a wet scrubber to reduce the chlorine capture in the scrubber. This opens up the possibility for reducing the cost of wastewater treatment and for using less expensive alloys in the scrubber. The new sorbent has high enough efficiency for a power plant burning low sulfur coal to  meet the new toxic rules with DSI.

Steve Baloga, P.E., of Novinda Corporation presented “Condensable PM Mitigation Using DSI.” EPA recently lowered the PM_2.5 ambient air quality standard and appears poised to regulate PM_2.5 with end-of-pipe limits. EPA currently classifies condensable particulate matter (CPM) as a subset of PM_2.5.  Some states are beginning to regulate CPM emissions from certain combustion sources. SCR and SNCR technology can inadvertently generate unwanted fine PM, including CPM. Dry sorbent injection (DSI) utilizing alkaline sorbent materials such as hydrated lime, trona and sodium bicarbonate can effectively mitigate CPM emissions by eliminating CPM precursors. Steve provided details of pilot work at a calciner where the CPM was a very large multiple of the discrete particulate. With trona injection, the CPM was effectively captured. It was speculated in discussion that installations such as this could trigger the States to do more on CPM reduction.

Peter J. Spinney, Director of Market & Technology Assessment at NeuCo, Inc., was to provide an overview of the EPA MATS rule, with particular emphasis on its "Work Practices" provisions. Intended to minimize dioxin and furan emissions -- covered by MATS but not readily measured -- these work practices require boiler and controls tuning, as well as "optimizing NO_x and CO" to maximize boiler efficiency and thus minimize the unmeasured emissions. The presentation covers what is required for tuning and the associated emissions measurements, the deadline for the initial tuning, pre- and post-tuning measurements, the frequency of subsequent tuning and the deferral by one year of the initial tuning and measurements, as well as the reduced frequency of subsequent tuning and more lenient testing requirements for boilers equipped with neural network optimizers. Peter had a last minute conflict and was not a presenter but his power points are available.

Bios, Abstracts and Photos can be seen at: BIOS, ABSTRACTS, PHOTOS - 7-11-13.htm

The individual presentations are as follows:

• New Developments in Air Pollution Control Technology Webinar - Hot Topic Hour July 11, 2013  (Webinar Recording  Dated:  7/11/2013)

• Boiler Optimization and MATS Work Practices Requirements by Peter Spinney, NeuCo - Hot Topic Hour July 11, 2013  (Presentation  Dated:  7/11/2013)
• Advances in Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) Reagents by Mike Schantz, Lhoist - Hot Topic Hour July 11, 2013.  (Presentation  Dated:  7/11/2013)
• Advances in Activated Carbon by Sheila Glesmann, ADA Carbon Solutions - Hot Topic Hour July 11, 2013  (Presentation  Dated:  7/11/2013)
• Dry Sorbent Injection for CPM Mitigation by Steve Baloga, Novinda - Hot Topic Hour July 11, 2013.  (Presentation  Dated:  7/11/2013)