Pilot Testing of Mercury Oxidation Catalysts for Upstream of Wet FGD Systems
This final report presents and discusses results from a mercury control process development project entitled ''Pilot Testing of Mercury Oxidation Catalysts for Upstream of Wet FGD Systems''. The objective of this project was to demonstrate at pilot scale a mercury control technology that uses solid honeycomb catalysts to promote the oxidation of elemental mercury in the flue gas from coal combustion. Oxidized mercury is removed in downstream wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) absorbers and leaves with the FGD byproducts. The goal of the project was to achieve 90% oxidation of elemental mercury in the flue gas and 90% overall mercury capture with the downstream wet FGD system. The project was co-funded by EPRI and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE NETL) under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-01NT41185. Great River Energy (GRE) and City Public Service (now CPS Energy) of San Antonio were also project co-funders and provided host sites. URS Group, Inc. was the prime contractor. Longer-term pilot-scale tests were conducted at two sites to provide catalyst life data. GRE provided the first site, at their Coal Creek Station (CCS), which fires North Dakota lignite, and CPS Energy provided the second site, at their Spruce Plant, which fires Powder River Basin (PRB) coal. Mercury oxidation catalyst testing began at CCS in October 2002 and continued through the end of June 2004, representing nearly 21 months of catalyst operation. An important finding was that, even though the mercury oxidation catalyst pilot unit was installed downstream of a high-efficiency ESP, fly ash buildup began to plug flue gas flow through the horizontal catalyst cells. Sonic horns were installed in each catalyst compartment and appeared to limit fly ash buildup. A palladium-based catalyst showed initial elemental mercury oxidation percentages of 95% across the catalyst, declining to 67% after 21 months in service. A carbon-based catalyst began with almost 98% elemental mercury oxidation across the catalyst, but declined to 79% oxidation after nearly 13 months in service. The other two catalysts, an SCR-type catalyst (titanium/vanadium) and an experimental fly-ash-based catalyst, were significantly less active. The palladium-based and SCR-type catalysts were effectively regenerated at the end of the long-term test by flowing heated air through the catalyst overnight. The carbon-based catalyst was not observed to regenerate, and no regeneration tests were conducted on the fourth, fly-ash-based catalyst. Preliminary process economics were developed for the palladium and carbon-based catalysts for a scrubbed, North Dakota lignite application. As described above, the pilot-scale results showed the catalysts could not sustain 90% or greater oxidation of elemental mercury in the flue gas for a period of two years. Consequently, the economics were based on performance criteria in a later DOE NETL solicitation, which required candidate mercury control technologies to achieve at least a 55% increase in mercury capture for plants that fire lignite. These economics show that if the catalysts must be replaced every two years, the catalytic oxidation process can be 30 to 40% less costly than conventional (not chemically treated) activated carbon injection if the plant currently sells their fly ash and would lose those sales with carbon injection. If the plant does not sell their fly ash, activated carbon injection was estimated to be slightly less costly. There was little difference in the estimated cost for palladium versus the carbon-based catalysts. If the palladium-based catalyst can be regenerated to double its life to four years, catalytic oxidation process economics are greatly improved. With regeneration, the catalytic oxidation process shows over a 50% reduction in mercury control cost compared to conventional activated carbon injection for a case where the plant sells its fly ash. At Spruce Plant, mercury oxidation catalyst testing began in September 2003 and continued through the end of April 2005, interrupted only by a host unit outage in late February/early March 2005. With a baghouse upstream of the catalysts, sonic horns did not appear to be necessary and were never installed. Pressure drop across the four catalysts remained low. Catalyst activity for elemental mercury oxidation was difficult to evaluate at this site. It was found that the baghouse effectively oxidized elemental mercury in the flue gas, with the baghouse outlet flue gas averaging 81% mercury oxidation. This oxidation resulted in little elemental mercury remaining in the flue gas going to the oxidation catalyst pilot unit. In many instances, catalyst outlet elemental mercury concentrations were near detection limits for the measurement methods employed, so mercury oxidation percentages across the catalyst were uncertain.
- Research Organization:
- Urs Group Inc
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-01NT41185
- OSTI ID:
- 909278
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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