The Decision Trees  allow a utility or consultant to make the decisions regarding power plant air quality and ensure that all the alternatives will be considered and the best chosen. Each of the following unique features makes this possible:

1. Provide the facts and insights to make each of the many necessary decisions regarding emission reduction from power plants

Hundreds of major and thousands of minor decisions need to be made in purchasing and operating emission control systems.

New knowledge is substantial as many new systems are being completed and suppliers are developing new ways to increase cost effectiveness. The McIlvaine Company has been analyzing and gathering this information since 1974 when it began publishing the Scrubber Manual, Newsletter and Abstracts and 1976 when it introduced similar systems on particulate and air monitoring.

There are four separate decision trees: FGD, Mercury, NO_x, and Particulate 

These Decision Trees serve the expert who is devoting his career to emission control but are equally valuable to the new hires and those who are only temporarily working in the subject area..

2. Provide the complete decision making programs on a step by step basis

Whether the plant is in the U.S., China, or Poland, the air quality decisions depend on regulatory, cost, and, certain other factors. If the decision is to scrub, then a large number of procedural, physical, and informational choices have to be identified and decisions made. Each of these choices is analyzed in the most logical order.

The programs allow the user to move sequentially through each step or to easily select any point and move backward or forward. They also allow instant identification of decisions which should not be made unilaterally.

An example would be a decision on FGD slurry recycle pumps. On a sequential basis, the user works down the branches until he is provided with details on Weir, KSB, and other recycle pump offerings. There are other pumps to be purchased and it may make sense to consider buying all pumps from one vendor. The program user can then query using the “pump” category and see all the pump requirements or options.

This query even shows pump requirements for different types of scrubber designs. Certain designs require larger pumps. These pumps are only made by three companies. So the user quickly sees that his choice of pump vendors depends heavily on his choice of scrubber designs.

3. Streamline communications with vendors and consultants

At the end of each of the branches of each Decision Tree there is an analysis of the suppliers of products and services to be considered. The system provides profiles, product descriptions, case histories, installations, and contacts.

The Decision Tree also integrates the Hot Topic Hour audio/video recordings. Many vendor presentations are incorporated. To provide insights into the subject matter in the Decision Trees you can see a free display of each branch title and also read the summaries of the presentations

4. Maximize the value of conferences and exhibitions

Audio-taped interviews from exhibitions are included in the Decision Trees. Over 60 of these interviews are available free by clicking HERE.  Papers from conferences are included in the appropriate branches. For example there are links to the individual mercury, NO_x and SO₃ conference papers at DOE conferences. For many conferences authors have retained the rights to their papers and have provided those papers to us for the Decision Trees.

In many cases where full text of papers is not included in the Decision Tree, the papers are abstracted and included in the Power Plant Air Quality Decisions Abstracts available chronologically and by search.