Field Test Program to Develop Comprehensive Design, Operating and Cost Data for Mercury Control Systems on Non-Scrubbed Coal-Fired Boilers

With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Mercury is known to have toxic effects on the nervous system of humans and wildlife. Although it exists only in trace amounts in coal, mercury is released when coal burns and can accumulate on land and in water. In water, bacteria transform the metal into methylmercury, the most hazardous form of the metal. Methylmercury can collect in fish and marine mammals in concentrations hundreds of thousands times higher than the levels in surrounding waters. One of the goals of DOE is to develop technologies by 2005 that will be capable of cutting mercury emissions 50 to 70 percent at well under one-half of today's costs. ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) is managing a project to test mercury control technologies at full scale at four different power plants from 2000 – 2003. The ADA-ES project is focused on those power plants that are not equipped with wet flue gas desulfurization systems. ADA-ES has developed a portable system that will be tested at four different utility power plants. Each of the plants is equipped with either electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters to remove solid particles from the plant's flue gas. ADA-ES's technology will inject a dry sorbent, such as activated carbon, which removes the mercury and makes it more susceptible to capture by the particulate control devices. A fine water mist may be sprayed into the flue gas to cool its temperature to the range where the dry sorbent is most effective. PG&E National Energy Group is providing two test sites that fire bituminous coals and both are equipped with electrostatic precipitators and carbon/ash separation systems. Wisconsin Electric Power Company is providing a third test site that burns Powder River Basin (PRB) coal and has an electrostatic precipitator for particulate control. Alabama Power Company will host a fourth test at its Plant Gaston, which is equipped with a hot-side electrostatic precipitator and a downstream fabric filter. During the ninth reporting quarter, progress was made on the project in the following areas: PG&E NEG Salem Harbor Station • Long term testing and equipment decommissioning has been completed. • A web cast/conference call was held to review data. • Preliminary preparation and review of data and test results for the final report. Technology Transfer • A number of technical presentations and briefings were made during the quarter. Notable among them was a Program Status Report presented to NETL. Also, one paper was presented at Power-Gen and one at the Annual Coal Marketing Strategies Conference. DOE Report No. 41005R09