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MERCURY CONTROL FOR COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS
Citation:
HALL, BOB E., C. LEE, AND N. D. HUTSON. MERCURY CONTROL FOR COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS. Presented at International Conference on Power Engineering, Hangzhou, CHINA, October 23 - 27, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
There are many sources of natural and anthropogenic mercury emissions, but combustion of coal is known to be the major anthropogenic source of mercury (Hg) emissions in the U.S. and world wide. To address this, EPA has recently promulgated the Clean Air Mercury Rule to reduce Hg emissions from coal-fired utility boilers. However, atmospheric mercury is a global problem and mercury emissions from U.S. coal-fired boilers represent only a small fraction of the total worldwide emissions. Mercury emissions form Asia account for almost 60% of worldwide anthropogenic mercury emissions. Mercury can be controlled as a co-benefit of existing NOx, SOx, and PM control technologies and via sorbent injection technology. The level of control is strongly affected by the type of mercury emitted, coal type, chlorine levels, and type of air pollution controls used.