FURNACE INJECTION OF ALKALINE SORBENTS FOR SULFURIC ACID CONTROL

This document summarizes progress on Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-99FT40718, Furnace Injection of Alkaline Sorbents for Sulfuric Acid Control, during the time period October 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003. The objective of this project is to demonstrate the use of alkaline reagents injected into the furnace of coal-fired boilers as a means of controlling sulfuric acid emissions. The coincident removal of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid is also being determined, as is the removal of arsenic, a known poison for NO{sub x} selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts. EPRI, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), FirstEnergy Corporation, American Electric Power (AEP) and the Dravo Lime Company are project co-funders. URS Group is the prime contractor. This is the seventh reporting period for the subject Cooperative Agreement. During previous reporting periods, two long-term sorbent injection tests were conducted, one on Unit 3 at FirstEnergy's Bruce Mansfield Plant (BMP) and one on Unit 1 at AEP's Gavin Plant. Those tests determined the effectiveness of injecting alkaline slurries into the upper furnace of the boiler as a means of controlling sulfuric acid emissions from these units. The alkaline slurries tested included commercially available magnesium hydroxide slurry (Gavin Plant), and a byproduct magnesium hydroxide slurry (both Gavin Plant and BMP). The tests showed that injecting either the commercial or the byproduct magnesium hydroxide slurry could achieve up to 70-75% overall sulfuric acid removal. At BMP, the overall removal was limited by the need to maintain acceptable electrostatic precipitator (ESP) particulate control performance. At Gavin Plant, the overall sulfuric acid removal was limited because the furnace injected sorbent was less effective at removing SO{sub 3} formed across the SCR system installed on the unit for NO{sub x} control than at removing SO{sub 3} formed in the furnace. The SO3 removal results were presented in the semi-annual Technical Progress Report for the time period April 1, 2001 through September 30, 2001. Additional balance of plant impact information for the two tests was reported in the Technical Progress Report for the time period October 1, 2001 through March 30, 2002. Additional information became available about the effects of byproduct magnesium hydroxide injection on SCR catalyst coupons during the long-term test at BMP, and those results were reported in the previous report (April 1, 2002 through September 30, 2002). During the current period, there was no technical progress to report, because all planned testing as part of this project has been completed. The project period of performance was extended to allow the conduct of testing of another SO{sub 3} control technology, the sodium bisulfite injection process. However, these additional tests have not yet been conducted