ULTRA HIGH EFFICIENCY ESP DEVELOPMENT FOR AIR TOXICS CONTROL

Because more than 90 percent of U.S. coal-fired utility boilers are equipped with electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), retrofitable ESP technologies represent a logical approach towards achieving the Department of Energy's (DOE) goal of a major reduction in fine particulate and mercury emissions (air toxics) from coal based power systems. EPA's recent issuance of significantly tightened ambient air standards for particles smaller than 2.5 {micro}m (PM{sub 2.5}) creates a new urgency for developing cost-effective means to control fine particulate emissions. This challenge is compounded by the on-going switch in the utility industry to low-sulfur Powder River Basin (PRB) coals, that generate higher resistivity and difficult-to-collect fly ash. Particulate emissions can increase by a factor of ten when a utility switches to a low-sulfur coal. Numerous power plants are presently limited in operation by the inability of their ESPs to control opacity at high loads. In Phase I of this program, ABB investigated five technologies to improve the collection of fine particulate and trace metals in ESPs. These included: (1) flue-gas cooling, (2) flue-gas humidification, (3) pulsed energization, (4) wet ESP and precharger modules, and (5) sorbent injection for mercury control. Tests were conducted with an Eastern bituminous coal and a Powder River Basin sub-bituminous low-sulfur coal in an integrated pilot-scale combustor and ESP test facility. The impacts of the different retrofit technologies on ESP performance, individually and in combination, were evaluated indepth through advanced sampling and measurement techniques. In Phase II, the most promising concepts identified from Phase I testing, flue-gas cooling and humidification, pulsed energization, and sorbent injection at low flue-gas temperatures for mercury control, were integrated into a commercially oriented sub-scale system for field testing at Commonwealth Edison's Waukegan Unit No. 8. The main objective of the proposed Phase II testing was to determine longer term ESP performance and mercury capture improvements with the above enhancements for a range of low-sulfur coals currently fired by utilities. Unanticipated cost growth in readying the Pilot Plant for shipment and during slipstream construction at the utility host site resulted in the issuance of a preemptive stop work order from ABB until a detailed technical and budgetary review of the project could be completed. Four program recovery scenarios were developed and presented to the DOE. After careful review of these options, it was decided to terminate the program and although the Pilot Plant installation was essentially completed, no testing was performed. The Pilot Plant was subsequently decommissioned and the host site returned to its preprogram condition