Field testing of mercury emissions control equipment for coal-fired plants is to be carried out under a Department of Energy study.
Earth Sciences Inc subsidiary, ADA Environmental Solutions, has been selected by the DoE to carry out the study and develop new methods of control as part of a $6.8 million contract. Along with PG&E National Energy Group, Wisconsin Electric Power, EPRI and another generation company, ADA will design, build and test mercury emissions control equipment for use on four different types of power plant, which use either electrostatic precipitation or fabric filters to remove particulates. The portable control equipment will spray a fine mist of water into exhaust gases that is intended to lower the temperature and increase the effectiveness of dry absorbant materials that are used to remove compounds of mercury. The move comes as the Environmental Protection Agency looks imminently set to introduce some kind of mercury emissions control law that could affect some 1100 power plants in the US. Estimates put the value of the mercury control market at as much as $5 billion annually if the EPA regulates emissions of the toxic substance.
The EPA is also causing controversy in its tough new ruling regarding polychrolinated biphenyls (PCBs), commonly used in transformers and related equipment into the 1970s. Under a new ruling by the Appeals Court in New Orleans, the EPA has been told to revisit an order on the disposal and storage of PCBs which restricted the ability of electric utilities to hold such materials.
The EPA’s 1998 ruling followed claims of “sham storage”, utilities storing material for excessive periods in order to avoid costly disposal through EPA approved methods, and required written approval for storage longer the five years. The ruling though, will make the EPA re-examine the decision, although it may yet field sufficient data to justify its claim that PCBs pose an “unreasonable risk of injury to health” under the terms of the Toxic Substances Control Act.