The ADESORB Process for Economical Production of Sorbents for Mercury Removal from Coal Fired Power Plants
The DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) currently manages the largest research program in the country for controlling coal-based mercury emissions. NETL has shown through various field test programs that the determination of cost-effective mercury control strategies is complex and highly coal- and plant-specific. However, one particular technology has the potential for widespread application: the injection of activated carbon upstream of either an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) or a fabric filter baghouse. This technology has potential application to the control of mercury emissions on all coal-fired power plants, even those with wet and dry scrubbers. This is a low capital cost technology in which the largest cost element is the cost of sorbents. Therefore, the obvious solutions for reducing the costs of mercury control must focus on either reducing the amount of sorbent needed or decreasing the cost of sorbent production. NETL has researched the economics and performance of novel sorbents and determined that there are alternatives to the commercial standard (NORIT DARCO{reg_sign} Hg) and that this is an area where significant technical improvements can still be made. In addition, a key barrier to the application of sorbent injection technology to the power industry is the availability of activated carbon production. Currently, about 450 million pounds ($250 million per year) of activated carbon is produced and used in the U.S. each year - primarily for purification of drinking water, food, and beverages. If activated carbon technology were to be applied to all 1,100 power plants, EPA and DOE estimate that it would require an additional $1-$2 billion per year, which would require increasing current capacity by a factor of two to eight. A new facility to produce activated carbon would cost approximately $250 million, would increase current U.S. production by nearly 25%, and could take four to five years to build. This means that there could be significant shortages in supply if response to new demand is not well-timed.
- Research Organization:
- ADA-ES, Littleton CO
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-06ER84591
- OSTI ID:
- 924869
- Report Number(s):
- DOEER84591- Final Report; TRN: US201112%%370
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
ACTIVATED CARBON
CAPACITY
CAPITALIZED COST
COAL
DRINKING WATER
DRY SCRUBBERS
ECONOMICS
ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORS
FABRIC FILTERS
FIELD TESTS
FOOD
MERCURY
POWER PLANTS
PRODUCTION
PURIFICATION
REMOVAL
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SHORTAGES
US EPA
Mercury
carbon
coal fired power plants