CONSOL Energy Inc. (CONSOL Energy) and AES Greenidge LLC (AES Greenidge), part of AES Eastern Energy, L.P., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The AES Corporation, have demonstrated a compact, cost-effective multi-pollutant control technology for reducing air emissions from smaller coal-fired power plants. The pollutant control technology was installed on AES Greenidge's 100 megawatt (MW) Unit 4 in Dresden, New York, and began operating in early 2007.
The performance testing data was collected through June 2008. The data has showed average removal efficiencies of 96% for sulfur dioxide, 95% for sulfur trioxide, 97% for hydrogen chloride, and 98% for mercury. The nitrogen oxide emissions were also reduced and particulate matter emissions were reduced by over 98% relative to the emission rate observed prior to installation of the technology.
There are over 400 smaller coal-fired plants, with capacities between 50 MW and 300 MW that are currently operating in the US.
The demonstration project was part of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Power Plant Improvement Initiative. The project has included Babcock Power Environmental Inc. as engineering, procurement and construction contractor. The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory oversaw the project through a cooperative agreement with CONSOL.
CONSOL Energy is pleased to have played a major role, along with the DOE and AES Greenidge, in demonstrating this highly effective multi-pollutant control technology, said J. Brett Harvey, CONSOL Energy’s president and CEO. We believe it will help our customers meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations with their smaller plants. These plants have a combined capacity of almost 60,000 MW and collectively they are essential to our nation’s electricity supply.
The multi-pollutant control project with CONSOL Energy, Babcock Power Environmental, and the DOE has enabled us to deliver a valuable source of electricity for the region, while continuing to lower emissions in a cost-effective way. This project is an example of the initiatives AES Eastern Energy has taken to reduce total air emissions, said Doug Roll, Plant Manager at AES Greenidge.
Since acquiring its New York plants in 1999, AES Eastern Energy has invested approximately $150 million in environmental modifications that have substantially reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and acid gases.
The multi-pollutant control system at AES Greenidge cost 40% less to construct and required less land area than conventional selective catalytic reduction and wet flue gas desulfurization technologies when applied to a 100 MW unit. The system included Fuel Tech’s NOxOUT CASCADE hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction / selective catalytic reduction technology to control nitrogen oxides and Babcock Power’s Turbosorp circulating fluidized bed dry scrubbing technology to control sulfur dioxide, mercury, sulfur trioxide, hydrogen chloride, and particulate matter.
CONSOL Energy is a US-based multi-fuel energy producer and energy services provider.