To MACT or Not to MACT: Mercury Emissions From Waste-to-Energy and Coal-Fired Power Plants

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nickolas J. Themelis ◽  
Nada Assaf-Anid
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Elemental Mercury ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Source ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Fabric Filter ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The U.S

During the combustion of fuel in Waste-to-Energy (WTE) and coal-fired power plants, all of the mercury input in the feed is volatilized. The primary forms of mercury in stack gas are elemental mercury (Hg0) and mercuric ions (Hg2+) that are predominantly found as mercuric chloride. The most efficient way to remove mercury from the combustion gases is by means of dry scrubbing, followed by activated carbon injection and a fabric filter baghouse. Back in 1988, the U.S. WTE power plants emitted about 90 tons of mercury (Hg). By 2003, implementation of the EPA Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, at a cost of one billion dollars, reduced WTE mercury emissions to less than one ton of mercury. EPA now considers coal-fired power plants to be the largest remaining anthropogenic source of mercury emissions. Approximately 800 million short tons of coal, containing nearly 80 short tons of Hg are combusted annually in the U.S. for electricity production. About 40% of this amount is presently captured in the gas control systems of coal-fired utilities. Since the concentration of mercury in U.S. coal is ten times lower than in the MSW feed and the volume of gas to be cleaned 55 times higher, the cost of implementing MACT by the U.S. coal-fired utilities is estimated to be about $25 billion. However, when this retrofit cost is compared to the total capital investment and revenues of the two industries, it is concluded that MACT should be affordable. Per kilogram of mercury to be captured, the cost of MACT implementation by the utilities will be twenty times higher than was for the WTE industry. However, implementation of MACT by the utilities will also reduce the emissions of other gaseous contaminants and of particulate matter.

Research on Mercury Emissions Regularity and Adsorbing Mercury by Activated Carbon in Coal-fired Power Plants

2011 ◽  
Vol 284-286 ◽  
pp. 301-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Xian Liu ◽  
Pei Pei Sun ◽  
Song Tao Chen ◽  
Li Juan Shi
Keyword(s):  
Activated Carbon ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Removal Efficiency ◽  
Flue Gas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Elemental Mercury ◽  
Mercury Pollution ◽  
Anthropogenic Source ◽  
Modified Activated Carbon ◽  
Mercury Emissions

The coal-fired power plant is the main anthropogenic source of mercury pollution. The mercury in flue gas exists as elemental mercury(Hg0), oxidizing state mercury(Hg2+) and particulate mercury(Hgp). Mercury speciation distribution in flue gas was influenced and controled by the factors including conditions of ignition, desulphurization or denitration and Based on the investigation of coal-fired power plant technologies of removing Hg, this research uses the modified activated carbon (MAC) and studies its removal efficiency. Result indicates that the uptake of Hg by MAC was﹥90%.

Thermoeconomic Optimization of COOLCEP-S: A Novel Zero-CO2-Emission Power Cycle Using LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) Coldness

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Liu ◽  
Noam Lior ◽  
Na Zhang ◽  
Wei Han
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Payback Period ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Pinch Point ◽  
Cost Of Electricity ◽  
The Cost

This paper presents a thermoeconomic optimization of a novel zero-CO2 and other emissions and high efficiency power and refrigeration cogeneration system, COOLCEP-S† which uses the liquefied natural gas (LNG) coldness during its revaporization. It was predicted that at the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) of 900°C, the energy efficiency of the COOLCEP-S system reaches 59%. The thermoeconomic optimization determines the specific cost, the cost of electricity, and the system payback period. The optimization started by performing a thermodynamic sensitivity analysis, which has shown that for a fixed TIT and pressure ratio, the pinch point temperature difference in the recuperator, ΔTp1, and that in the condenser, ΔTp2, are the most significant unconstrained variables to have a significant effect on the thermal performance of this novel cycle. The thermoeconomic analysis of the cycle (with fixed net power output of 20 MW and plant life of 40 years) shows that the payback period with the revenue from electricity and CO2 mitigation was ∼5.9 years, and would be reduced to ∼3.1 years when there is a market for the refrigeration byproduct. The capital investment cost of the economically optimized plant is estimated to be about $1,000/kWe, and the cost of electricity is estimated to be 0.34–0.37 CNY/kWh (∼0.04 $/kWh). These values are much lower than those of conventional coal power plants being installed at this time in China, which, in contrast to COOLCEP-S, do produce CO2 emissions at that.

Performance Evaluation of an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collins O. Ojo ◽  
Damien Pont ◽  
Enrico Conte ◽  
Richard Carroni
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Water Steam ◽  
Plant Operator ◽  
Central Receiver ◽  
Solar Field

The integration of steam from a central-receiver solar field into a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) provides an option to convert solar energy into electricity at the highest possible efficiency, because of the high pressure and temperature conditions of the solar steam, and at the lowest capital investment, because the water-steam cycle of the CCPP is in shared use with the solar field. From the operational point of view, the plant operator has the option to compensate the variability of the solar energy with fossil fuel electricity production, to use the solar energy to save fuel and to boost the plant power output, while reducing the environmental footprint of the plant operation. Alstom is able to integrate very large amounts of solar energy in its new combined-cycle power plants, in the range of the largest solar field ever built (Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, California, 3 units, total 392 MWel). The performance potential of such integration is analyzed both at base load and at part load operation of the plant. Additionally, the potential for solar retrofit of existing combined-cycle power plants is assessed. In this case, other types of concentrating solar power technologies than central receiver (linear Fresnel and trough) may be best suited to the specific conditions. Alstom is able to integrate any of these technologies into existing combined-cycle power plants.

scholarly journals Prioritizing Energy Sources to Generate Electricity (Application of Fuzzy Logic)

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-421
Author(s):  
Bahareh Hashemlou ◽  
Hossein Sadeghi ◽  
Arashk Masaeli ◽  
Mohammadhadi Hajian ◽  
Shima Javaheri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Fuzzy Preference Relations ◽  
Safety And Reliability ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Day By Day

Organizations, institutions, and different sectors of manufacturing, services and agriculture are constantly making decisions. Each of the aforementioned sectors, have strategies, tactics, and various functions that play a basic role in reaching the objectives. On the other hand, energy demand in developing countries is increasing day by day. The exact calculation of the cost per unit of electricity generated by power plants is not easy. Therefore, this study according to four sources of natural gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy and other fossil fuels other than natural gas that are used in a variety of electricity production plants is trying to clarify the ranking of generation electricity approach using "fuzzy preference relations" analysis. Accordingly, three models were used and the results showed that natural gas, with regard to the four criteria of low investment cost, low power, lack of pollution and the safety and reliability of electrical energy has priority over other alternatives. Full preferred model results also suggested that the energy of natural gas, renewable energies, nuclear and other fossil fuels should be considered in a priority for power generation. Sensitivity analysis results moreover demonstrated that the above models are not affected by the threshold values ​​and the full stability of the models is observed.

scholarly journals Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service TEMPOral profiles (CAMS-TEMPO): global and European emission temporal profile maps for atmospheric chemistry modelling

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Guevara ◽  
Oriol Jorba ◽  
Carles Tena ◽  
Hugo Denier van der Gon ◽  
Jeroen Kuenen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Source ◽  
Ancillary Data ◽  
Monitoring Service ◽  
Temporal Profiles

Abstract. We present the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service TEMPOral profiles (CAMS-TEMPO), a dataset of global and European emission temporal profiles that provides gridded monthly, daily, weekly and hourly weight factors for atmospheric chemistry modelling. CAMS-TEMPO includes temporal profiles for the priority air pollutants (NOx; SOx; NMVOC, non-methane volatile organic compound; NH3; CO; PM10; and PM2.5) and the greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) for each of the following anthropogenic source categories: energy industry (power plants), residential combustion, manufacturing industry, transport (road traffic and air traffic in airports) and agricultural activities (fertilizer use and livestock). The profiles are computed on a global 0.1 × 0.1∘ and regional European 0.1 × 0.05∘ grid following the domain and sector classification descriptions of the global and regional emission inventories developed under the CAMS programme. The profiles account for the variability of the main emission drivers of each sector. Statistical information linked to emission variability (e.g. electricity production and traffic counts) at national and local levels were collected and combined with existing meteorology-dependent parametrizations to account for the influences of sociodemographic factors and climatological conditions. Depending on the sector and the temporal resolution (i.e. monthly, weekly, daily and hourly) the resulting profiles are pollutant-dependent, year-dependent (i.e. time series from 2010 to 2017) and/or spatially dependent (i.e. the temporal weights vary per country or region). We provide a complete description of the data and methods used to build the CAMS-TEMPO profiles, and whenever possible, we evaluate the representativeness of the proxies used to compute the temporal weights against existing observational data. We find important discrepancies when comparing the obtained temporal weights with other currently used datasets. The CAMS-TEMPO data product including the global (CAMS-GLOB-TEMPOv2.1, https://doi.org/10.24380/ks45-9147, Guevara et al., 2020a) and regional European (CAMS-REG-TEMPOv2.1, https://doi.org/10.24380/1cx4-zy68, Guevara et al., 2020b) temporal profiles are distributed from the Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data (ECCAD) system (https://eccad.aeris-data.fr/, last access: February 2021).

scholarly journals Aggregate estimation of investments in power plant units using a parametric power function

2020 ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
Pavel Shchinnikov ◽  
◽  
Alina Frantseva ◽  
Ivan Sadkin ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Power Function ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Thermodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Engineering System ◽  
Parametric Function ◽  
Aggregate Estimation ◽  
The Cost

In the course of designing new generating equipment for power plants and their thermal circuits, in the absence of information about their cost, analog indicators and/or expert assessments are used in the design practice. This approach allows us to compare various options if they can be brought to a comparable form and when the same type of equipment is used. When it is necessary to compare options that differ not only in the specified capacity, but also in the equipment configuration, a more accurate assessment of investment is required. The article proposes a method for estimating capital investment in power plants using a power parametric function. Capital investment is assessed for each unit of the power plant and its engineering system. A special feature of the approach is that the higher the cost of the unit is, the higher its thermodynamic characteristics, power, time of load use, etc. These factors are taken into account by the exponent in the power function. In addition, the correction coefficients take into account the configuration of the equipment, its climatic design, and configuration features. The combination of factors that are taken into account in the power function makes it possible to obtain an estimate of the cost of equipment in different versions. The uniformity of the problem statement makes it possible to apply the approach both to design tasks and to scientific and applied tasks of comparing the existing, newly developed and promising technologies. This paper presents the updating and development of the method developed in previous years at the department of thermal power plants of NSTU. Equations for determining investment in the main units and technical systems of power plants are presented. Estimates of investment in power plants currently under construction in Russia are made. It is shown that investment in power plants in Russia is 20-50% lower than in the USA and Europe, and 20-30% higher than in China.

scholarly journals Waste-to-Wealth: The Economic Reasons for Replacing Waste-to-Energy With the Circular Economy of Municipal Solid Waste

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Pagliaro
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Waste Incineration ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Material Recycling

Sharing the same raw material, recycling and composting are in direct conflict with incineration of municipal solid waste in combined heath and power plants. Indeed, waste-to-energy plants in regions with high recycling rates import urban waste from other countries to use otherwise unused capacity, and raise revenues. Using the case of Italy’s second largest and economically most developed region, I discuss the economic viability of municipal solid waste incineration to produce electricity and heath in the context of the increasing role of electricity production from renewable energy sources as well as of the emerging mass-scale uptake of bioplastics. Four lessons and three guidelines aimed to local authorities and policy makers emerge from the present study.

Hydrogen Generation Can Reduce New Plant Design and Building Costs

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Wolff ◽  
William Bailey ◽  
Tom Skoczylas
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Hydrogen Generation ◽  
Cooling Water ◽  
Plant Design ◽  
Liquid Form ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Hydrogen Supply ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The U.S

Large electric power plant generators typically use gaseous hydrogen to remove heat from the generator windings and deliver the heat to the cooling water. Hydrogen is used in a closed cycle, and only a modest amount of makeup hydrogen is used daily to make up for hydrogen losses — typically about 300 to 700 scf/d. The range of hydrogen usage depends on several factors. In addition to hydrogen used for makeup, all power plants using hydrogen-cooled generators must plan for hydrogen supply to re-gas a generator after the generator has been degassed. Typical generator re-gas quantities are in the range of 15× the daily makeup amount, and must be available in a short period of time. Thus a generator which might require 300 to 700 scf of hydrogen over 24 hours for daily makeup may require 4500 to 10,500 scf of hydrogen in just a few hours for re-gas. The re-gas hydrogen is added back to the generator as quickly as the re-gas process allows — typically over 3–5 hours — so that an out-of-service generator can be brought online and producing revenue again. Hydrogen for power plant generator cooling can be supplied either through hydrogen delivered to the plant from a remote source in gaseous or liquid form, or can be made at the plant using an on-site hydrogen generator. Makeup hydrogen and re-gas hydrogen do not necessarily require the same source of hydrogen — because the requirements of re-gas hydrogen are very different from the requirements of makeup hydrogen, it may be more efficient to use two different approaches. On-site hydrogen generation for power plant hydrogen supply is widespread in the developing world, and is beginning to displace delivered hydrogen as the preferred approach in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Outside U.S., Canada and Europe, there may be no delivery infrastructure for hydrogen manufacture and delivery to the plant — a hydrogen-cooled power plant may need to take care of its own hydrogen needs to ensure that the plant can be operated. In the U.S., Canada and Europe hydrogen deliveries are available, but on-site generated hydrogen is gaining acceptance because it reduces costs and operational complexity, and improves safety. This paper will review several cases where on-site hydrogen generation has been used to reduce the cost of design, construction and operation of newly built power plants, both in the U.S., Canada and Europe and in areas where hydrogen is far less available.

Pulse-Jet Baghouse Optimization in WTE: Meeting the Challenges of the Future

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Ladwig ◽  
Robin Linton
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Differential Pressure ◽  
Filter Element ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Initial Capital ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Fabric Filter ◽  
The Future ◽  
On Line ◽  
Pulse Jet

Like many coal-fired power plants today, the waste-to-energy (WTE) industry is faced with a number of challenges including the need to maximize plant output, lower outlet emissions and increase plant efficiencies. Within WTE, there’s also been a move from reverse-air baghouses to pulse-jet collectors due to lower initial capital costs and the ability to operate pulse-jet collectors at higher air-to-cloth ratios (3–4:1), allowing for a smaller housing footprint. However, the majority of today’s pulse-jet collectors utilize an off-line cleaning mode where modules are taken out of service and pulsed to lower the differential pressure. There are inherent advantages in switching from an off-line cleaning mode to an on-line cleaning mode. This paper discusses the idea of using the fabric filter as a damper and stabilizing draft through the baghouse and boiler. It also outlines the use of pleated filter element (PFE) technology to address increased production concerns, and the need for lower outlet emissions.

scholarly journals CAMS-TEMPO: global and European emission temporal profile maps for atmospheric chemistry modelling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Guevara ◽  
Oriol Jorba ◽  
Carles Tena ◽  
Hugo Denier van der Gon ◽  
Jeroen Kuenen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Source ◽  
Ancillary Data ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Temporal Profiles

Abstract. We present the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service TEMPOral profiles (CAMS-TEMPO), a dataset of global and European emission temporal profiles that provides gridded monthly, daily, weekly and hourly weight factors for atmospheric chemistry modelling. CAMS-TEMPO includes temporal profiles for the priority air pollutants (NOx, SOx, NMVOC, NH3, CO, PM10, PM2.5) and the greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) for each of the following anthropogenic source categories: energy industry (power plants), residential combustion, manufacturing industry, transport (road traffic and air traffic in airports) and agricultural activities (fertilizer use and livestock). The profiles are computed on a global 0.1 × 0.1 deg and regional European 0.1 × 0.05 deg grid following the domain and sector classification descriptions of the global and regional emission inventories developed under the CAMS program. The profiles account for the variability of the main emission drivers of each sector. Statistical information linked to emission variability (e.g. electricity production, traffic counts) at national and local levels were collected and combined with existing meteorological-dependent parametrizations to account for the influences of sociodemographic factors and climatological conditions. Depending on the sector and the temporal resolution (i.e. monthly, weekly, daily, hourly) the resulting profiles are pollutant-dependent, yearly-dependent (i.e. time series from 2010 to 2017) and/or spatially-dependent (i.e. the temporal weights vary per country or region). We provide a complete description of the data and methods used to build the CAMS-TEMPO profiles and whenever possible, we evaluate the representativeness of the proxies used to compute the temporal weights against existing observational data. We find important discrepancies when comparing the obtained temporal weights with other currently used datasets. The CAMS-TEMPO data product including the global (CAMS-GLOB-TEMPOv2.1, https://doi.org/10.24380/ks45-9147) and regional European (CAMS-REG-TEMPOv2.1, https://doi.org/10.24380/1cx4-zy68) temporal profiles are distributed from the Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data (ECCAD) system (https://eccad.aeris-data.fr/). For review purposes, ECCAD has set up an anonymous repository where subsets of the CAMS-GLOB-TEMPOv2.1 and CAMS-REG-TEMPOv2.1data can be accessed directly (https://www7.obs-mip.fr/eccad/essd-surf-emis-cams-tempo/).

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