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Field evaluation of METHANE de-NOX at Olmsted Waste-to-Energy facility

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10115426
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
  2. Olmsted County, Rochester, MN (United States)

A natural gas injection technology (METHANE de-NOX) for reducing NO{sub x} emissions from municipal waste combustors (MWCS) has been developed in a joint program between the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT), Riley Stoker Corporation (Riley), Olmsted Waste-to-Energy, and Takuma Company, Ltd. The METHANE de-NOX technology offers significant benefits compared to Thermal de-NO{sub x}, which is the only NO{sub x} reduction technology that has been commercially employed in the United States to MWCS. Funding for this development was provided by the Gas Research Institute (GRI) and a number of gas utilities. The METHANE de-NOX approach used involves injection of natural gas, together with recirculated flue gases, above the grate to provide oxygen deficient combustion conditions that promote the destruction of NO{sub x}, as well as NO{sub x} precursors. Extensive development testing, using both simulated combustion products and actual municipal waste (MW), showed that 50% to 70% NO{sub x} reduction could be achieved. A full-scale METHANE de-NOX system was designed and retrofitted to a 100-ton/day Riley/Takuma mass burn system at the Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy facility for this field evaluation. A flexible system design was chosen to allow testing of key parameters to not only optimize the process for the Olmsted unit, but also acquire design data for its a plication to MWCs of other sizes and designs. Extensive testing was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this new technology. This paper concentrates on the METHANE de-NOX system retrofit and the results of the field evaluation tests which demonstrated the reduction of up to 60% in NO{sub x} emissions and up to 50% in CO emissions. Further benefits included a reduction of up to 50% in excess air requirements and furnace efficiency improvements. An assessment of the application potential for this technology to other systems is also presented along with a comparison to Thermal de-NO{sub x}.

Research Organization:
Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (United States); Gas Research Inst., Chicago, IL (United States)
OSTI ID:
10115426
Report Number(s):
CONF-9201124--1; ON: TI93005397
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English