Citation:

Srivastava*, R K., J. E. Staudt, AND W. Jozewicz. PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES OF PERFORMANCE AND COST OF MERCURY EMISSION CONTROL TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS ON ELECTRIC UTILITY BOILERS: AN UPDATE. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 24(2):198-213, (2005).

Description:

The paper presents estimates of performance levels and related costs associated with controlling mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants using either powdered activated carbon (PAC) injection or multipollutant control in which Hg capture is enhanced in existing and new sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_X), and particulate matter (PM) control devices. Estimates of cost for PAC injection range from 0.03-3.096 mills/kWh. The higher costs are generally associated with plants using spray dryers and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) or plants using hot-side ESPs, which represent a minority of power plants. Excluding this minority, cost estimates range between 0.03 and 1.903 mills/kWh. At the low end of the range, 0.03 mills/kWh, it is assumed that no additional control technologies are needed, but mercury monitoring will be necessary. In these cases, high mercury removal may be the result of the type of NO_X and SO₂ control measures currently employed, such as combinations of selective catalytic reduction and wet flue gas desulfurization on bituminous coal fired boilers. Since mercury control approaches are under development at present, cost and performance estimates are preliminary and are expected to be refined as mercury control technologies are matured to commercial status. Factors that may affect the performance of these technologies include speciation of mercury in flue gas, the characteristics of the sorbent, and the type(s) of PM, NO_X and SO₂ controls employed. The effect of these factors may not be entirely accounted for in the data points that form the basis for this work. Ongoing research is expected to address these issues.

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