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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Marketing of byproduct gypsum from flue gas desulfurization

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6944052

The 1985 marketing potential of byproduct gypsum from utility flue gas desulfurization (FGD) was evaluated for the area east of the Rocky Mountains using the calculated gypsum production rates of 14 selected power plants. The 114 cement plants and 52 wallboard plants in the area were assumed to be the potential market for FGD gypsum sales. Assuming use of an in-loop forced-oxidation limestone FGD process, the results showed that producing a marketable gypsum was less expensive than disposal by fixation and landfill for many power plants in the area--including all those used in the study. With this savings to offset freight costs, the power plants could market 4.35 million ton/yr of gypsum (92% of their production), filling 63% of the cement plant requirements and 20% of the wallboard plant requirements. Cement plants are a geographically dispersed market available to most power plants, but able to absorb the production of only a few power plants; wallboard plants are a larger market but power plant location is a more important marketing factor. Other variations of the marketing model indicated that: (1) drying and briquetting had little effect on the marketing potential, (2) sales were reduced 25% when the savings in FGD cost were not used to offset freight costs, and (3) relocation of wallboard plants to sources of byproduct gypsum appeared economically feasible in some cases. 66 references, 27 figures, 27 tables.

Research Organization:
Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL (USA). Div. of Energy Demonstrations and Technology
OSTI ID:
6944052
Report Number(s):
TVA/OP/EDT-83/15; EPA-600/7-84-019; ON: DE84901502
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English