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Title: Status of pollutant removal technology for coal fired power plants in the Northeastern US

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5904828· OSTI ID:5904828

The status of air pollution control technology for coal-fired industrial and power plant boilers has been surveyed. Lime and limestone based scrubbers are capable of removing as much as 93% of flue gas sulfur dioxide at facilities supplying 800 MW power. A sludge containing sulfur oxides must be discarded in the process, usually requiring a settling pond. The Wellman-Lord, thiosorbic, and citrate processes are capable of producing salable products instead of the sludge. They are successful (85 to 90% removal) on demonstration-scale units. The Wellman-Lord process is currently being tested on large-scale coal-fired units. Electrostatic precipitators, the major control device for removing particulates, can eliminate 99.5% of the fine particles. Fabric filtration can remove 99.9% and is more efficient in the 0.2 to 2-..mu..m size range than ESPs. Utilization of fabric filters is expected to increase significantly from its present 5% of the particulate removal market. Nitrogen oxide concentrations in coal-fired systems are usually reduced by modification of the combustion system. No significant NO/sub x/ reduction on full-scale boilers has yet been reported, but demonstrations are planned over the next few years. Various process capital and annualized costs are reported for SO/sub 2/ and particulate removal systems. The status of fluidized bed combustion, fuel desulfurization, conversion of coal to gaseous and liquid fuels, and flue gas denitrification is also discussed.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-C-02-0016
OSTI ID:
5904828
Report Number(s):
BNL-51004
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English