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<strong>Demonstrating</strong> <strong>Mercury</strong> <strong>Emissions</strong><br />

<strong>Reduction</strong> <strong>Cost</strong> Management<br />

By John Meier, Dr. Bruce Keiser*, Dr. Brian Higgins<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> Company, 1601 West Diehl Road, Naperville, IL 60563-1198<br />

ABSTRACT<br />

Meeting mercury emission regulations, whether state<br />

or federal, is the primary goal of our work, while<br />

simultaneously minimizing the impact on generated<br />

electricity costs for a coal-fired power plant. 1–8<br />

Determining the right solution for a combination of<br />

boiler design, coal-type, and air quality control devices<br />

(AQCD) can result in large reductions in mercury<br />

compliance cost. An example of this is the cost savings<br />

recently generated by the application of a holistic<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> engineered solution to mercury emission compliance<br />

on a commercial boiler.<br />

The commercial site consisted of a coal-fired 580 MWg<br />

thermal electric supercritical boiler equipped with<br />

low-NO x burners and selective catalytic reduction<br />

(SCR) for NO x control, dry scrubbers (SDAs) for SO 2<br />

control, and a pulse-jet fabric filter (FF) for particulate<br />

control. The boiler burns subbituminous Powder<br />

River Basin (PRB) coal. The site currently owns and<br />

operates a Thermo Fischer continuous mercury monitor<br />

(Thermo CMM) at the stack. The Thermo CMM is<br />

used to control HPAC (halogenated powder activated<br />

carbon) injection to maintain mercury emissions below<br />

1.0 lb/TBtu, the targeted mercury emission rate. The<br />

target represents approximately 90% mercury capture.<br />

Historically, an HPAC injection rate averaging<br />

1.65 lb/MMacf was required to meet this target.<br />

Parametric testing and optimization of the engineered<br />

mercury emission control solution were carried out<br />

during the demonstration for HPAC alone and in<br />

combination with <strong>Nalco</strong> MerControl 7895 technology.<br />

The results showed that the mercury emission target<br />

of less than 1.0 lb/TBtu could be maintained at lower<br />

HPAC usage rates when combined with MerControl<br />

7895. The HPAC usage rate was reduced 85% from<br />

1.65 lb/MMacf to 0.25 lb/MMacf when MerControl<br />

7895 was applied to the coal at a concentration of 25<br />

ppmw. The optimized engineering solution reduced<br />

the customer’s annual mercury compliance costs for<br />

the 580 MWg electric generating unit (EGU) by over<br />

$1.1 million per year.<br />

Presented at Air Quality VIII, Arlington, VA, October 24-27, 2011<br />

Reprint R-1031<br />

We also will show recent work minimizing the cost of<br />

mercury control through increasing the efficiency of<br />

mercury capture by wet flue gas desulfurizer through<br />

the application of MerControl 8034. <strong>Mercury</strong> emission<br />

was reduced on a commercial unit from 10 µg/<br />

dscm to less than 1 µg/dscm with no impact on EGU<br />

operation. This work represents a simple low-capital<br />

cost mercury strategy that enables EGUs to meet<br />

regulations with existing AQCDs.<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

An Ecolab Company<br />

Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) generated from the<br />

use of fossil fuels to generate electricity continues to<br />

be a topic of debate and subject for state and federal<br />

regulatory bodies. 1–4 One HAP that continues to be<br />

a focus of regulatory bodies is mercury emissions. It<br />

is anticipated that the Clean Air Act will eventually<br />

lead to federal mercury regulations on utility and<br />

industrial boilers. While federal regulations remain<br />

unclear, many states have established regulations<br />

that apply to coal-fired power plants. 3–4 As the power<br />

generating plants in these states and others move<br />

to meet these regulations, it has become clear that<br />

there are several control strategies. 5–8 The strategies<br />

employed vary greatly based on existing unit<br />

operations, coal type, and air quality control devices<br />

(AQCDs) present at any given power generation plant.<br />

The cost of air mercury emission compliance equally<br />

varies greatly from one site to another. 7–8 <strong>Nalco</strong> has<br />

been working in the field optimizing site specific<br />

engineered solutions for customers. Holistic solutions<br />

addressing both water and air mercury emissions<br />

have been demonstrated for bituminous and subbituminous<br />

coal-fired power plants with and without<br />

selective catalytic reduction (SCRs) and wet flue gas<br />

desulfurization (wFGD). 9–10 In all these cases, the goal<br />

is always to meet air mercury emission regulations<br />

while having the least impact on power generation<br />

and electricity costs.<br />

Recently, a demonstration was carried out applying<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> patented mercury control technology resulted<br />

in a significant savings in meeting regulatory require-


ments. The demonstration site was a 580 MWg boiler<br />

burning subbituminous Powder River Basin (PRB)<br />

coal. The existing AQCDs included low NO x burners<br />

and SCR to control NO x , a spray dryer absorber<br />

(SDA) to control SO x , and a fabric filter to control<br />

particulate emissions. The site utilized stack CMM<br />

(i.e., continuous mercury measurement) to control<br />

mercury emissions via injection of halogenated powder<br />

activated carbon (HPAC) to a target of less than 1.0<br />

lb/TBtu.<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> offers a method of controlling mercury in coal<br />

combustion flue gas that increases the oxidized mercury<br />

fraction in the gas and facilitates its capture.<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> is the exclusive licensee of MerControl 7895<br />

technology. The oxidized form of mercury is more<br />

readily collected in conventional air quality control<br />

devices (AQCDs) such as electrostatic precipitators<br />

(ESPs) and fabric filters (FFs). Oxidized mercury is<br />

also more readily absorbed across acid gas scrubbers<br />

like wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) and SDA<br />

systems.<br />

This paper provides a summary of the results of<br />

this recent demonstration. Independent mercury<br />

measurement was provided by Western Kentucky<br />

University along with supplemental mercury speciation<br />

measurements to aid performance analysis, additional<br />

quality control, and determination of mercury<br />

oxidation across existing air quality control devices<br />

(AQCDs). WKU performed Ontario Hydro Method<br />

2<br />

(ASTM D6784-02/2008) and Method 30B (carbon trap<br />

sampling), both considered reference methods for<br />

measuring mercury. The study included injection of<br />

halogenated powdered activated carbon (HPAC) only,<br />

MerControl 7895 only, and both components together.<br />

The performance of the mercury control solutions was<br />

evaluated based on the ability to meet the mercury<br />

air emission target and regulatory compliance cost.<br />

Unit Description<br />

EXPERIMENTAL<br />

The test site has a 580 MWg, supercritical boiler<br />

burning PRB coal, equipped with lox-NO x burners<br />

and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NO x control,<br />

spray dryer absorber (SDA) for SO 2 control, and<br />

a pulse-jet fabric filter (FF) for particulate control<br />

(Figure 1). A Thermo CMM (i.e., continuous mercury<br />

monitor) is used to monitor mercury emissions and<br />

to control HPAC injection rate. The HPAC is introduced<br />

into the combustion gas after the air heater and<br />

before the SDA. The HPAC injection rate is actively<br />

controlled to maintain the target gas phase stack<br />

mercury level of below 1.0 lb/TBtu as measured by the<br />

Thermo CMM. Historical data shows that typically an<br />

HPAC injection rate of 1.65 lb/MMacf was required to<br />

maintain the target stack gas mercury concentration.<br />

Figure 1 – Schematic of plant configuration and Hg measurements is provided. Note: M indicates mercury<br />

measurement points within the unit while HPAC indicates injection points for halogenated powder activated carbon.


MerControl 7895 Temporary Supply System<br />

The MerControl 7895 temporary supply system<br />

(Figure 2) consists of three individual pumps, used<br />

to supply chemical into three of the four coal feeders,<br />

prior to the pulverizers. MerControl 7895 was stored<br />

in a 260-gallon tote next to the temporary supply<br />

system. MerControl 7895 supply levels were verified<br />

by performing drawdown checks through individual<br />

calibration columns on each pump. The temporary<br />

supply system is equipped with flow metering and<br />

data recording to insure that flow is not disrupted<br />

during supply. The supply of MerControl 7895 was<br />

maintained at a constant rate and did not change with<br />

load or coal flow. Note that the load did not fluctuate<br />

significantly during daily test periods. A permanent<br />

MerControl 7895 installation includes a 4-20 mA<br />

input signal to allow the flow rate to be varied with<br />

load or coal flow. The flow rate of MerControl 7895 is<br />

reported as part-per-million weight fraction (ppmw)<br />

relative to the coal flow rate (e.g., mg 7895/kg of coal).<br />

Validation of Gas Phase <strong>Mercury</strong><br />

Measurements<br />

<strong>Mercury</strong> measurements were performed by Western<br />

Kentucky University (WKU) after the air heaters and<br />

at the stack. WKU performed Ontario Hydro Method<br />

(ASTM D6784-02/2008) and Method 30B (carbon trap<br />

sampling). A PSA Analytical CMM was also installed<br />

by WKU at the outlet of one of two boiler air heaters<br />

to monitor changing coal conditions. Ontario Hydro<br />

measurements performed at the air heater outlet<br />

was considered representative of the inlet mercury<br />

concentration and used for calculation of mercury<br />

removal performance. Ontario Hydro Method (OHM)<br />

and Method 30B measurements made at the stack<br />

by WKU were used to validate the Thermo CMM.<br />

Table 1 – Comparison of Gas Phase <strong>Mercury</strong> Measurements.<br />

3<br />

Figure 2 – A typical temporary MerControl 7895<br />

technology injection skid is shown.<br />

Table 1 tabulates the OHM, Method 30B (abbreviated<br />

as M30B in the table), and Thermo CMM gas phase<br />

mercury concentrations at the stack.<br />

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS<br />

Validation of Stack Gas Phase Hg<br />

Measurements<br />

M30B = Method 30 B of 40 CFR Part 75.<br />

a Relative Deviation or RD calculated following Appendix K of 40 CFR Part 75 section 11.7. 11<br />

The Thermo CMM stack data for total mercury in<br />

the gas phase was validated against that obtained<br />

by WKU, see Table 1. The mercury concentrations are<br />

shown in Table 1 in both gas concentrations (μg/dscm)<br />

and relative to coal processed (lb/TBtu). The gas<br />

concentrations were used in calculating the Relative<br />

Deviation (RD) as percent between the correspond-


ing methods as shown in Table 1. 12 As can be seen,<br />

the various methods compare well with RDs ranging<br />

from 4 to 15%. One can also observe that for the first<br />

two days, the RD between the Method 30B reference<br />

method and CMM were high; i.e., ranging from 19 to<br />

36%. The site CMM was calibrated during the second<br />

day of testing resulting in the observed similar<br />

results during the rest of the test. Indeed, using the<br />

guidelines of Appendix K of 40 CFR Part 75, results<br />

from the first day would be removed based on the high<br />

RD values. A calculation of the Relative Accuracy<br />

(RA) following Performance Specification 12A12 and<br />

using data from only Day 3 through Day 5 of the test<br />

yields a value of 18%. Analysis of the information in<br />

Table 1 is shown in Figure 3 as well.<br />

The comparison of either the site CMM or WKU OHM<br />

results to the WKU Method 30B is shown in Figure<br />

3. The red dotted line represents a theoretical exact<br />

match between methods. Linear fits forced through<br />

the origin were generated for both comparison methods;<br />

i.e., site CMM and WKU OHM versus WKU<br />

Method 30B. Please note that the highlighted data<br />

points shown in Figure 3 were omitted from the linear<br />

fit for the site CMM based on the discussion above. In<br />

both cases, the R-squared values exceed 0.9 indicated<br />

a good correlation between the respective methods.<br />

Further, the slope of the fit for site CMM is 0.95 or<br />

less than 5% from the theoretical value of 1.0. A plant<br />

study comparing methods carried out by Sarunac, et<br />

al., observed similar findings between Method 30B<br />

and CMM indicated good agreement. 13 The data<br />

shown in Table 1 and Figure 3 clearly indicate that<br />

the site CMM after calibration provided reliable and<br />

accurate gas phase mercury concentrations at the<br />

stack and will be used through the remaining of this<br />

paper.<br />

Figure 3 –The comparison of mercury measurements is<br />

made at the stack sampling point. Highlighted data<br />

points were not used in construction of linear fit.<br />

4<br />

Parametric Tests<br />

The plant load is shown in Figure 4 below during<br />

the time of the demonstration. While load was<br />

reduced overnight, the load was always near 580 MWg<br />

during daylight testing. The MerControl 7895 was<br />

supplied on a continual basis during the demonstration.<br />

Plant data regarding load and coal usage were<br />

used to calculate an “average” application concentration<br />

of MerControl 7895.<br />

Figure 4 – The plant load during the demonstration is<br />

shown.<br />

Table 2 contains a summary of the conditions, feed<br />

rates, and stack total mercury levels measured during<br />

the demonstration. The total mercury emission<br />

rate reported in Table 2 is taken from the plant stack<br />

CMM since, as shown above, these results were<br />

essentially equivalent to independent OHM and<br />

Method 30B. At the beginning of the trial HPAC<br />

was being injected at a rate of 2.45 lb/MMacf to meet<br />

the goal of less than 1.0 lb/TBtu mercury emission<br />

rate. In fact this injection rate of HPAC resulted in<br />

a mercury emission of 0.59 lb/TBtu. MerControl 7895<br />

addition began on the second day at 46 ppmw based<br />

on coal. Shortly after, the HPAC injection rate was<br />

reduced from 2.45 to 0.22 lb/MMacf. As can be seen<br />

in Table 2 and Figure 5, the stack mercury emission<br />

rate remained less than 1.0 lb/TBtu. Indeed, at this<br />

new condition of a 10-fold reduction of HPAC, a lower<br />

mercury emission rate was observed. The combination<br />

of MerControl 7895 and reduced HPAC injection<br />

rate decreased mercury emissions by more than 50%<br />

relative to only 0.3 lb/TBtu.<br />

This demonstration condition was maintained to confirm<br />

that the mercury emission levels were stable and<br />

below 1.0 lb/TBtu. After about two hours, the HPAC<br />

injection was turned off and remained off for the next


Table 2 – Summary of Supply Conditions and Performance.<br />

*MerControl supply rate ppm is on weight basis, calculated from coal flow.<br />

three days of the demonstration. MerControl 7895<br />

(referred herein as BA or boiler additive) rates were<br />

increased to maintain mercury emissions below the<br />

targeted emission rate set point of 1.0 lb/TBtu.<br />

Over the next 67+ hours of the demonstration, mercury<br />

emission rates were maintained below 1.0 lb/TBtu<br />

without addition of HPAC. During this period of the<br />

demonstration, MerControl 7895 addition rate was<br />

varied. In the initial 48 hours, it was observed that<br />

lower rates of BA addition were required to maintain<br />

mercury emission rates. It was hypothesized that the<br />

cessation of activated carbon injection was leading to<br />

the disappearance of residual HPAC from the boiler<br />

surfaces, the fabric filter and the SDA system. During<br />

previous HPAC parametric testing by the client,<br />

they found that the activated carbon memory effect<br />

on mercury removal lasted approximately 2.5 days. It<br />

was observed that after 2.5 days the “memory effect”<br />

of HPAC injection was reduced. Before the 2.5 days<br />

elapsed, MerControl 7895 injection resulted in lower<br />

mercury emissions due to residual carbon. After 2.5<br />

days elapsed, it appeared that this effect had dissipated<br />

and that the demonstration ran long enough<br />

to minimize or eliminate the effect.<br />

On the fourth day of the demonstration, 58 ppmw of<br />

MerControl 7895 controlled mercury emission rates<br />

to between 0.77 and 0.89 lb/TBtu. The average was<br />

0.83 lb/TBtu with a standard deviation of 0.083 lb/<br />

TBtu or 10% relative standard deviation. Further, as<br />

can be seen in Table 2 and Figure 5, increasing the<br />

BA application rate further decreased the mercury<br />

emission rate to less than 0.71 lb/TBtu on Day 5 of<br />

the demonstration.<br />

Therefore, during the demonstration, it was shown<br />

that HPAC injection could be reduced from 2.45 lb/<br />

MMacf to less than 0.22 lb/MMacf while maintaining<br />

the mercury emission rate below the 1.0 lb/TBtu limit<br />

through the application of MerControl 7895.<br />

5<br />

Figure 5 – The stack total mercury emissions are<br />

shown for conditions during the demonstration. Note:<br />

ΔT represents the elapse time in hours after HPAC was<br />

stopped. See Table 2 above for label codes. The optimal<br />

condition was found to be 0.22 lb/MMacf HPAC and<br />

25 ppmw MerControl 7895 technology.<br />

Optimized Solution<br />

After the <strong>Nalco</strong> demonstration period was complete,<br />

the site performed further optimization using<br />

the stack Thermo CMM. Various combinations of<br />

MerControl 7895 and HPAC injection were investigated<br />

to further reduce the cost of mercury compliance. They<br />

concluded that by adding a small amount of HPAC, the<br />

MerControl 7895 dosage could be decreased by 67%.<br />

The most cost effective solution was between 25 to<br />

50 ppmw of MerControl 7895 and 0.25 lb/MMacf of<br />

HPAC. They also noted that MerControl 7895 application<br />

provided a simple and easy means to respond<br />

to variations in mercury emission rates.


Economic Analysis<br />

Variations in mercury content of the fuel and anticipated<br />

changes in mercury emission regulations, the<br />

solution demonstrated above provides the necessary<br />

flexibility to provide a long term operational solution.<br />

To further highlight this, two economic analyses are<br />

provided for the reader’s consideration. The first case<br />

considered is an analysis of the cost required to reach<br />

83% mercury emission reduction or a target of less<br />

than 1.0 lb/TBtu. The second case to consider is the<br />

cost associated with reaching 90% mercury reduction<br />

or an emission rate of less than 0.71 lb/TBtu.<br />

To determine the yearly solution costs for meeting<br />

mercury emission regulations, the cost of consumables<br />

for the “mercury emissions solution” on an hourly basis<br />

was determined. Plant operations were assumed<br />

to consist of 8760 hours per year with a capacity factor<br />

of 90%. The cost for HPAC was taken as $0.98/lb.<br />

Case 1: <strong>Mercury</strong> emission control below<br />

1.0 lb/TBtu (or 83% <strong>Mercury</strong> <strong>Reduction</strong>):<br />

As can be seen in Table 3, the control strategy provided<br />

reduces the cost of consumables to meet this plant’s<br />

mercury emissions regulation by over $1.1 million<br />

per year.<br />

Case 2: <strong>Mercury</strong> emission control below<br />

0.7 lb/TBtu (or 90% <strong>Mercury</strong> <strong>Reduction</strong>):<br />

Here also, the demonstrated mercury emission control<br />

strategy maintains stack emissions below 0.7 lb/TBtu<br />

at a savings of over $1.7 million per year.<br />

The additional capital equipment required to<br />

apply MerControl 7895 technology is recovered in savings<br />

in less than 2 months. For this particular unit,<br />

the injection system EPC cost was less than $200,000;<br />

however, actual system costs can vary greatly due to<br />

scope and system requirements.<br />

Table 3 – Comparative cost to meet 83% total mercury reduction is<br />

presented.<br />

Condition<br />

HPAC<br />

(lb/MMacf)<br />

MerControl 7895<br />

(ppmw)<br />

$/yr<br />

HPAC only 1.65 $1,450,000<br />

HPAC+MerControl 7895 0.25 28 $ 360,000<br />

Savings $1,090,000<br />

Table 4 – Comparative cost to meet 90% total mercury reduction is<br />

presented.<br />

Condition<br />

HPAC<br />

(lb/MMacf)<br />

MerControl 7895<br />

(ppmw)<br />

$/yr<br />

HPAC only 2.50 $2,200,000<br />

HPAC+MerControl 7895 0.25 53 $ 500,000<br />

Savings $1,700,000<br />

6<br />

The reduced cost of mercury emission compliance<br />

can translate into reductions in the cost of electricity<br />

for the consumer as can be seen in Figure 6. Figure<br />

6 shows the cost of meeting mercury emission<br />

regulations on a $/MWhr basis over about a year of<br />

operation. The initial 140 days of operation shows<br />

the cost of meeting mercury emission regulations<br />

utilizing a control strategy of HPAC alone. During<br />

HPAC application alone, the average cost of mercury<br />

emission compliance is about $0.30/MWhr. During<br />

the MerControl 7895 technology demonstration,<br />

mercury emission compliance cost was reduced to<br />

about $0.11/MWhr. After about 170 days, a mercury<br />

emission compliance strategy based on the results of<br />

this demonstration was implemented consisting of<br />

combining HPAC and MerControl 7895 technology.<br />

With optimization of this control strategy, mercury<br />

compliance costs from about 221 days on have been<br />

further reduced to about $0.07/MWhr and continues<br />

to provide the flexibility to responds to fuel and<br />

operational variations.<br />

Figure 6 –The cost of control mercury emission is<br />

presented for solutions as practiced. The (*) indicates<br />

periods during which the temporary equipment was<br />

used to control the program resulting in higher costs.


The reduced cost of mercury emission compliance<br />

can translate into reductions in the cost of electricity<br />

for the consumer as can be seen in Figure 6. Figure 6<br />

shows the cost of meeting mercury emission regulations<br />

on a $/MWhr basis over about a year of operation.<br />

The initial 140 days of operation shows the cost<br />

of meeting mercury emission regulations utilizing<br />

a control strategy of HPAC alone. During HPAC<br />

application alone, the average cost of mercury emission<br />

compliance is about $0.30/MWhr. During the<br />

MerControl 7895 demonstration, mercury emission<br />

compliance cost was reduced to about $0.11/MWhr.<br />

After about 170 days, a mercury emission compliance<br />

strategy based on the results of this demonstration<br />

was implemented consisting of combining HPAC<br />

and MerControl 7895. With optimization of this control<br />

strategy, mercury compliance costs from about<br />

221 days on have been further reduced to about $0.07/<br />

MWhr and continues to provide the flexibility to responds<br />

to fuel and operational variations.<br />

CONCLUSIONS<br />

A demonstration of <strong>Nalco</strong> MerControl 7895 technology<br />

was performed on a 580 MWg boiler to reduce mercury<br />

emission compliance costs relative to a HPAC injection<br />

alone strategy. <strong>Mercury</strong> was controlled to as low<br />

as 0.7 lb/TBtu, below the target control limit of 1.0 lb/<br />

TBtu, utilizing only MerControl 7895. Lower levels<br />

of mercury emissions were recorded when combining<br />

low rates of MerControl 7895 and lower rates HPAC.<br />

It was found that about 2.5 days are required to completely<br />

remove “memory effects” of HPAC injection<br />

from the unit based on the response of stack mercury<br />

emission to the feed rate of MerControl 7895. Specifically,<br />

it was found that MerControl 7895 results<br />

in further utilization of residual carbon to produce<br />

mercury capture. It is clear from the results that<br />

7<br />

the demonstration ran long enough to minimize or<br />

eliminate the effect.<br />

At a MerControl 7895 rate of 70 ppmw, the site<br />

was able to maintain mercury emissions below the<br />

targeted rate of 1.0 lb/TBtu. Further optimization<br />

resulted in an economical mercury control strategy<br />

that provided operational flexibility while meeting<br />

mercury emission regulations with 25 ppmw of<br />

MerControl 7895 and 0.25 lb/MMacf of HPAC<br />

injection. Historically the previous control strategy<br />

required about 1.65 lb/MMacf of HPAC injection to<br />

maintain the mercury emissions below 1.0 lb/TBtu.<br />

Due to the addition of <strong>Nalco</strong> MerControl 7895 technology,<br />

the client reduced mercury emission compliance costs by<br />

$1.1 million per year. In the future, this mercury control<br />

strategy provides a means to meet 90% mercury<br />

reduction at a mercury compliance cost reduction of<br />

$1.7 million per year compared to HPAC alone.<br />

MERCURY REEMISSION CONTROL FROM<br />

WFGD (RECENT DEVELOPMENTS)<br />

Recently, <strong>Nalco</strong> MerControl 8034 technology for control<br />

of mercury re-emission in wet flue gas desulfurizers<br />

was performed on a combined 140 MWe EGU<br />

(Figure 7) fueled by high chlorine bituminous coal,<br />

i.e., 1200 ppm as chlorine. The EGU consisted of a<br />

SCR, selective catalytic reduction for NO x control,<br />

cold-side ESP to control particulate emissions, and<br />

limestone forced-oxidation wet flue gas desulfurizer<br />

to control SO x emissions. At the time of the request,<br />

total mercury capture was less than 50%. The reason<br />

for low mercury with a wFGD was not well understood.<br />

The goal of the demonstration was to improve<br />

the mercury capture efficiency of existing air quality<br />

control devices (AQCDs) while minimizing capital<br />

cost and operational complexity.<br />

Figure 7 –Schematic of commercial EGU (electricity generating unit) where <strong>Nalco</strong> successfully<br />

demonstrated wFGD mercury reemission reduction was shown. <strong>Mercury</strong> gas-phase measurements<br />

were made at the indicated “Monitoring Points” for the demonstration.


The gas-phase mercury measurements were carried<br />

out by an independent company using continuous<br />

mercury monitors (CMMs). The CMMs results were<br />

verified via Method 30B carbon traps. The complete<br />

study will be presented subsequently and is only<br />

briefly summarized here. A segment of the demonstration<br />

results is presented in Figure 8. This segment<br />

includes periods related to baseline measurement,<br />

control strategy application and demonstration that<br />

the control strategy is actively controlling mercury<br />

re-emission from the wFGD (Figure 8).<br />

<strong>Reduction</strong> of mercury from oxidized to elemental<br />

across wFGDs, i.e. mercury re-emission, has previously<br />

been the subject of laboratory and commercial<br />

studies with limited success in the latter case. 14–15 The<br />

results shown in Figure 8 document the successful<br />

application of a simple mercury re-emission control<br />

program. The inlet mercury gas-phase measurements<br />

are shown in blue diamonds with the elemental fraction<br />

shown in blue open diamonds. Not surprisingly,<br />

the high coal chlorine, in combination with the SCR,<br />

results in high mercury oxidized speciation, i.e., about<br />

85%. If the wFGD were 100% efficient at capturing<br />

oxidized mercury, there would be 85% mercury capture<br />

relative to the inlet mercury concentration. As<br />

is seen in Figure 8, under baseline conditions, the<br />

stack total mercury concentration equals that of the<br />

total inlet mercury concentration representing near<br />

0% capture across the wFGD. Note that the stack<br />

mercury emissions are represented by the red squares<br />

with the elemental fraction represented by the open<br />

symbols. Indeed, the elemental fraction of the stack<br />

mercury concentration is greater than 70% of the<br />

total. The percent re-emission, calculated from the<br />

inlet oxidized fraction and the increase across the<br />

wFGD of the elemental fraction was observed to be<br />

greater than 77%. This was consistently observed over<br />

the course of several weeks. Therefore, the focus of<br />

this demonstration, i.e. the reduction of total mercury<br />

emission from the EGU, became the elimination of<br />

mercury re-emission across the wFGD.<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> has developed the patented application of a<br />

proprietary liquid scrubber additive for the purpose<br />

of controlling mercury reduction across a wFGD.<br />

The product, MerControl 8034, is simple to apply,<br />

requiring minimal application equipment and with no<br />

impact on scrubber or EGU operations. As can be seen<br />

Table 5 – Summary of key performance parameters during demonstration.<br />

8<br />

Figure 8 – <strong>Mercury</strong> results are shown from the<br />

demonstration showing periods of mercury re-emission<br />

from the wFGD and the reduction by MerControl 8034<br />

addition. Feed rate is shown on the left y-axis. Elemental<br />

mercury concentrations are shown by open symbols.<br />

in Figure 8, this EGU responded to the application<br />

of MerControl 8034 within one hour of application.<br />

Within 2 hours of application, the stack total mercury<br />

concentration was the same as the mercury inlet<br />

elemental concentration. Re-emissions was reduced<br />

to zero and controlled throughout the remainder of<br />

the application period. Typically, initial high application<br />

rates are used to quickly eliminate re-emissions,<br />

with lower rates needed for “maintenance” of control.<br />

During application, the stack emissions are nearly<br />

100% elemental mercury. As a result of <strong>Nalco</strong> control<br />

technology the percent mercury capture reached<br />

greater than 85%.<br />

After demonstrating control for several hours, the<br />

application of MerControl 8034 was stopped. As<br />

expected, control continues after cessation of product<br />

application and in this case lasted for about 2<br />

hours. After MerControl 8034 is depleted, mercury<br />

re-emission returns resulting in an observed increase<br />

in stack total mercury concentrations.<br />

Table 5 contains a summary of measured parameters<br />

from the three stages of the demonstration. First, it<br />

is clear that throughout the demonstration the flue<br />

gas mercury speciation did not change. The percent<br />

mercury oxidation ranged from 87 to 95% during<br />

the course of the test. In contrast, the amount of reemission,<br />

capture and the relative efficiency of the<br />

WFGD to capture ionic mercury changed significantly


esulting from the application of MerControl 8034.<br />

Table 5 shows that before application, re-emission<br />

was averaging over 100% with mercury capture at<br />

zero. The application of MerControl 8034 decreased<br />

re-emission to near zero percent while increasing<br />

the scrubber mercury capture efficiency to 100% resulting<br />

in mercury capture increase to nearly 97%.<br />

With the cessation of application of MerControl 8034,<br />

re-emission increased again to baseline as did the<br />

mercury capture, i.e. near zero percent. Similarly, the<br />

scrubber efficiency related to ionic mercury capture<br />

from the flue gas decreased to zero percent.<br />

This demonstration shows the ability of <strong>Nalco</strong> to design<br />

and apply a mercury control strategy that works<br />

while managing costs. Our low-capital-equipment<br />

solution minimizes modifications of existing plant<br />

equipment and operating procedures. This and<br />

other successful demonstrations have proven the<br />

viability of <strong>Nalco</strong> 8034 in solving mercury reemission<br />

across wFGDs.<br />

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br />

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions<br />

made to this paper by Jianwei Yuan and Gerald<br />

Hunt.<br />

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1. Hess, G. “Boiler Battle.” C&E News 2010 88(50), 24.<br />

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Keiser, Bruce A. “Speciation control of mercury for<br />

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Proceedings, San Antonio, TX, March 21-25,<br />

(2010), lu1/1-lu1/4.<br />

10. Keiser, Bruce A.; Meier, John; Shah, Jitendra, and<br />

Lu, Jinghui. <strong>Mercury</strong> <strong>Emissions</strong>: Demonstration<br />

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13. Sarunac, Nenad; Cipriano, Domenico; Ryan, Jeffrey;<br />

and Schakenbach, John. Field experience<br />

with mercury monitors. POWER 2007 151(8), 52,<br />

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14. Blythe, G. M.; DeBerry, D. W. "Bench-scale Kinetics<br />

Study of <strong>Mercury</strong> Reactions in FGD Liquors",<br />

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Rhudy, R. G.; Miller, C. E.; Pletcher, S. Enhanced<br />

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of the Air Quality VI: <strong>Mercury</strong>, Trace Elements,<br />

SO 3 , and Particulate Matter Conference,<br />

2007, Arlington, VA.


<strong>Nalco</strong> Air Protection Technologies<br />

1601 West Diehl Road • Naperville, Illinois 60563-1198<br />

www.nalco.com/mercury<br />

<strong>Nalco</strong> and MerControl are Trademarks of <strong>Nalco</strong> Company<br />

Ecolab is a trademark of Ecolab USA, Inc.<br />

©2012 Ecolab USA Inc. All Rights Reserved 2/12

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