Regulations and Practice on Flue Gas Denitrification for Coal-Fired Power Plants in China

In China, according to the relative up-to-date regulations and standards, the maincontrol measure for NOX emission of coal-fired power plants is, in principle, low NOXcombustion. However, in recent years, more and more newlyapproved coal-fired plantswere required to install flue gas denitrification equipment. This article expounds if fluegas denitrification is necessary from several aspects, including constitution of NOX, itsimpact to environment, operation ofdeNOXequipment in USA, as wellas the differencein ambient air quality standard between China and World Health Organization. It setsforth themes in urgent need of study and areas where deNOX equipment is necessaryfor new projects, besides a recommendation that the emission standards for thermalpowerplants should be revised as soon as possible in China.

Activity and characteristics of ＂Oxygen-enriched＂ highly reactive absorbent for simultaneous flue gas desulfurization and denitrification

An ＂Oxygen-enriched＂ highly reactive absor- bent was prepared by mixing fly ash, lime and a small quantity of KMnO4 for simultaneous desulfiarization and denitrification. Removal of SO2 and NO simultaneously was carried out using this absorbent in a flue gas circulating fluidized bed （CFB）. The highest simultaneous removal efficiency, 94.5% of SO2 and 64.2% of NO, was achieved under the optimal experiment conditions. Scanning Electron Microscope （SEM） and Accessory X-ray Energy Spectrometer （EDX） were used to observe the surface characteristics of fly ash, lime, ＂Oxygen-enriched＂ highly reactive absorbent and the spent absorbent. An ion chromatograph （IC） and chemical analysis methods were used to determine the contents of sulfate, sulfite, nitrate and nitrite in the spent absorbents, the results showed that sulfate and nitrite were the main products for desulfurization and denitrification respectively. The mechanism of removing SO2 and NO simultaneously was proposed based on the analysis results of SEM, EDX, IC and the chemical analysis methods.

Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Ammonia generation in full-scale swine wastewater purification facilities

The activated sludge process to remove nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand （BOD） is reportedly cost-effective for swine wastewater treatment, and it use has thus increased in pig farming. Nitrous oxide （N20） is generated on farms as an intermediate product in nitrification and denitrification, and methane （CH4） is also generated from organic degradation under anaerobic conditions by microorganisms in manure or wastewater. This study was carried out at five activated sludge treatment facilities across Japan between August 2014 and January 2015. Measurements were conducted over several weeks at wastewater purification facilities for swine farms： two in Chiba prefecture （East Japan）, two in Okayama prefecture （West Japan）, and one in Saga （Southern Japan）. Taking several environmental fluctuations into account, we collected measurement data continuously day and night, during both high-temperature and low-temperature periods. The results indicated that CH4 and N20 emission factors were 0.91% （kgCHa·kg volatile solids^-1） and 2.87% （g N2O-N·kg total N^-1）, respectively. Ammonia emissions were negligible in all of the measurements from the wastewater facilities. The N20 emission factor calculated under this experiment was low compared to our previous finding （5.0%; g N2O-N·kg N^-1） in a laboratory experiment. In contrast, the CH4 emission factor calculated herein was rather high compared to the laboratory measurements. There was great variation in daily GHG emission factors measured in the actual wastewater treatment facilities. In particular, the N2O emission rate was affected by several environmental conditions at each facility location, as well as by the management of the wastewater treatment.

N2O emission from a sequencing batch reactor for biological N and P removal from wastewater

Nitrous oxide （N2O） is a greenhouse gas that can be released during biological nitrogen removal from wastewater. N2O emission from a sequencing batch reactor （SBR） for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal from wastewater was investigated, and the aims were to examine which process, nitrification or denitrification, would contribute more to N2Oemission and to study the effects of heterotrophic activities on N2O emission during nitrification. The results showed that N2O emission was mainly attributed to nitrification rather than to denitrification. N2O emission during denitrification mainly occurred with stored organic carbon as the electron donor. During nitrification, NaO emission was increased with increasing initial ammonium or nitrite concentrations. The ratio of N2O emission to the removed ammonium nitrogen （N2O- N/NH4-N） was 2.5% in the SBR system with high heterotrophic activities, while this ratio was in the range from 0.14% to 1.06% in batch nitrification experiments with limited heterotrophic activities.