PERFORMANCE AND COST OF MERCURY AND MULTIPOLLUTANT EMISSION CONTROL TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS ON ELECTRIC UTILITY BOILERS
Citation:
Staudt, J. E. AND W. Jozewicz. PERFORMANCE AND COST OF MERCURY AND MULTIPOLLUTANT EMISSION CONTROL TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS ON ELECTRIC UTILITY BOILERS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-03/110, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
Information
Description:
The report presents estimates of the performance and cost of both powdered activated carbon (PAC) and multipollutant control technologies that may be useful in controlling mercury emissions. Based on currently available data, cost estimates for PAC injection range are 0.03-3.096 mills/kWh. However, the higher costs are usually associated with the minority of plants using spray dryer absorbers and electrostatic precipitators (SDAs + ESPs) or the small number of plants using hot ESPs (ESPhs). Excluding the minority of plants using SDAs + ESPs or ESPhs, current cost estimates are from 0.03 to 1.903 mills/kWh. Systems at the low end of these cost ranges are assumed to need mercury monitoring but no additional control technologies because they achieve high mercury removal from the PM, NOX and SO2 control measures currently employed. Multipollutant control methods evaluated in this program include electro catalytic oxidation (ECO), advanced dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD), and coal beneficiation. ECO and advanced dry FGD are flue gas treatment methods and are estimated to have costs ranging from 2.93 mills/kWh to 12.0 mills/kWh over a range of fuel types and conditions. A coal beneficiation method called K-Fuel was shown to provide about 60% or greater reduction in mercury from PRB coal on a heating value basis. The report discusses general principles of mercury speciation and capture, mercury removal by existing equipment, promising mercury control technologies and estimates of their performance, model plants representing retrofit possibilities, and a summary of results.