Pollution-control costs: a status report

Conference · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6503569

Witmer, F E; Livengood, C D

The purpose of this study is to assess the economic, energy, and environmental impacts of possible New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for 68 combinations of boiler size, emission standards, load factor, and combustion/control technologies. The results of the study show that Low-Btu gasification is not competitive with direct coal combustion for any level of control in the systems studied. The market for LBG technology will depend primarily on the availability and relative prices of petroleum and natural gas. Direct firing of low-sulfur coal is the least-cost option for Level-1 control and gives by far the lowest level of SO/sub 2/ emissions. However, AFBC is economically competitive with low-sulfur coal at the 75 and 150 million Btu/hr sizes (within the uncertainty of the estimates) and is more attractive than the other options. For Level-2 control, dry FGD was found to be competitive with wet FGD, but still more expensive than AFBC. Although dry FGD was not evaluated for high-sulfur-coal applications in this study, recent experience with a retrofitted spray dryer/fabric system at ANL has indicated that such systems should also be competitive for high-sulfur coals. At level 3, AFBC and wet FGD are the favored technologies for the larger boilers. SRC is nearly competitive at 150 and 75 million Btu/hr, and is clearly the economic choice at 30 million Btu/hr, especially for the lower load factor. Although SNG was not evaluated for the smaller boilers, it is expected to be competitive with SRC in those cases at the stringent control level. The most attractive technology options as determined by this study depend on boiler size, load factor, and level of control required. Direct combustion is favored for larger boilers, while coal-derived synfuels and petroleum-based fuels are most attractive for small boilers operating at low load factors. The systems approach to technology comparisons reveals important facets that would not be shown by narrowly focussed case studies.

• Research Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Protection, Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Washington, DC. Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health; Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6503569
• Report Number(s): CONF-8205161-1; ON: DE83007679
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010800* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Waste Management
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
BOILERS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
COAL GASIFICATION
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION CONTROL
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTROL
COST
DESULFURIZATION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
EMISSION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUE GAS
FLUIDIZED-BED COMBUSTION
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
GASIFICATION
LOADING RATE
LOW BTU GAS
MATERIALS
MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE LEVEL
OXIDATION
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
POLLUTION CONTROL
SAFETY STANDARDS
SIZE
SOLVENT-REFINED COAL
STANDARDS
SULFUR CONTENT
SYNTHETIC FUELS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WASTES