skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Demonstration of urea-based SNCR technology on a pulverized, coal-fired, wet-bottom boiler. Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:74111

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 have made the control of oxide of nitrogen (NO{sub x}) emissions from utility boilers a major concern for electrical utilities. Urea-based selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) is one option for controlling NO{sub x} emissions. Urea is injected into the furnace and flue gases where the temperature of these gases is between 1700{degrees}F and 2200{degrees}F. The nitrogen in the urea reacts to change some of the NO{sub x} to N{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O. This process has been applied to boilers firing gas, oil, coal, and other fuels, but not to a unit with the same configuration as the wet-bottom, continuous-slagging, pulverized-coal furnaces operated at PSE&G`s Mercer Generating Station. This report provides a review of the urea-based SNCR demonstration performed from June to September 1993 on the reheat furnace of Unit 2 at Mercer Generating Station. The unit is a twin-furnace boiler capable of supporting 321 MW of generating capacity. The SNCR process was able to reduce NO{sub x} emissions by an average of 38% while maintaining an NH{sub 3} slip of 5 ppm (corrected to 7% O{sub 2}). When simulated over-fired air or air biasing was combined with the SNCR process the amount of NO{sub x} reduction was between 45% and 80% while the NH{sub 3} slip was again below 5 ppm (corrected to 7% O{sub 2}).

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst. (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Carnot, Tustin, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
74111
Report Number(s):
EPRI-TR-105071; TRN: 95:004952
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Apr 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English