Evaluation of mercury speciation and removal through air pollution control devices of a 190 MW boiler

Air pollution control devices （APCDs） are installed at coal-fired power plants for air pollutant regulation. Selective catalytic reduction （SCR） and wet flue gas desulftLrization （FGD） systems have the co-benefits of air pollutant and mercury removal. Configuration and operational conditions of APCDs and mercury speciation affect mercury removal efficiently at coal-fired utilities. The Ontario Hydro Method （OHM） recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency （EPA） was used to determine mercury speciation simultaneously at five sampling locations through SCR-ESP-FGD at a 190 MW unit. Chlorine in coal had been suggested as a factor affecting the mercury speciation in flue gas; and low-chlorine coal was purported to produce less oxidized mercury （Hg^2＋） and more elemental mercury （Hg^0） at the SCR inlet compared to higher chlorine coal. SCR could oxidize elemental mercury into oxidized mercury when SCR was in service, and oxidation efficiency reached 71.0%. Therefore, oxidized mercury removal efficiency was enhanced through a wet FGD system. In the non-ozone season, about 89.5%-96.8% of oxidized mercury was controlled, but only 54.9%-68.8% of the total mercury was captured through wet FGD. Oxidized mercury removal efficiency was 95.9%-98.0%, and there was a big difference in the total mercury removal efficiencies from 78.0% to 90.2% in the ozone season. Mercury mass balance was evaluated to validate reliability of OHM testing data, and the ratio of mercury input in the coal to mercury output at the stack was from 0.84 to 1.08.

Overlooked CO_(2)emissions induced by air pollution control devices in coal-fired power plants

China's efforts to mitigate air pollution from its large-scale coal-fired power plants(CFPPs)have involved the widespread use of air pollution control devices(APCDs).However,the operation of these devices relies on substantial electricity generated by CFPPs,resulting in indirect CO_(2) emissions.The extent of CO_(2)emissions caused by APCDs in China remains uncertain.Here,using a plant-level dataset,we quantified the CO_(2)emissions associated with electricity consumption by APCDs in China's CFPPs.Our findings reveal a significant rise in CO_(2)emissions attributed to APCDs,increasing from 1.48 Mt in 2000 to 51.7 Mt in 2020.Moreover,the contribution of APCDs to total CO_(2)emissions from coal-fired power generation escalated from 0.12%to 1.19%.Among the APCDs,desulfurization devices accounted for approximately 80%of the CO_(2)emissions,followed by dust removal and denitration devices.Scenario analysis indicates that the lifespan of CFPPs will profoundly impact future emissions,with Nei Mongol,Shanxi,and Shandong provinces projected to exhibit the highest emissions.Our study emphasizes the urgent need for a comprehensive assessment of environmental policies and provides valuable insights for the integrated management of air pollutants and carbon emissions in CFPPs.

Emission control and phase migration of PCDD/Fs in a rotary kiln incinerator:hazardous vs medical waste incineration

This study was carried out in a full-scale(50 t/d)rotary kiln incinerator to explore the removal characteristics of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs)by different units of air pollution control devices(APCDs),and special interest was focused on the“memory effect”phenomenon of PCDD/Fs in the wet scrubber(WS),which usually caused an undesirable rise in PCDD/F emission concentrations.The general removal efficiency of PCDD/Fs by APCDs was 99.4%(from 14.11 at exhaust heat boiler(EHB)outlet to 0.09 ng I-TEQ/Nm^(3)at stack)under medical waste(MW)incineration condition,and 99.2%(from 19.91 to 0.16 ng I-TEQ/Nm^(3))under hazardous waste(HW)incineration condition.The PCDD/F concentrations in flue gas decreased along the APCDs except for WS,in which the“memory effect”was observed.In detail,WS largely increased the I-TEQ concentration of gas-phase PCDD/Fs from 0.047 to 0.188 ng I-TEQ/Nm^(3)in the flue gas,and the concentration of particulate-phase PCDD/Fs increased from 0.003 to 0.030 ng I-TEQ/Nm^(3).In addition,this study found that phase migration promoted the accumulation of PCDD/Fs in scrubbing water,and the flow entrainment phenomenon played a great role in causing the“memory effect”.The PCDD/F concentrations of fly ash collected from cyclone and fabric filter(FF)were as high as 4.23 and 6.99 ng I-TEQ/g,respectively,which had exceeded the national landfill limitation(3 ng I-TEQ/g)in China.The system balance calculations revealed that APCDs promoted the migration of PCDD/Fs from the gas-phase to the particulate-phase,which caused fly ash to be the main carrier of PCDD/Fs and led to excessive emissions.The results of this study can contribute to the optimized design of combustion conditions and system cleaning for controlling PCDD/F emissions from rotary kiln incinerators.