SULFURIC ACID REMOVAL PROCESS EVALUATION: SHORT-TERM RESULTS

Blythe, Gary M. ; McMillan, Richard

National Energy Technology Laboratory (U.S.)

关键词: Removal;    Sorbent Injection Processes;    Boilers;    Materials Testing;    Magnesium Hydroxides;   

DOI  :  10.2172/794064
RP-ID  :  FC26-99FT40718--07
RP-ID  :  FC26-99FT40718
RP-ID  :  794064

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

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. Sulfuric acid controls are becoming of increasing interest to utilities with coal-fired units for a number of reasons. Sulfuric acid is a Toxic Release Inventory species, a precursor to acid aerosol/condensable emissions, and can cause a variety of plant operation problems such as air heater plugging and fouling, back-end corrosion, and plume opacity. These issues will likely be exacerbated with the retrofit of SCR for NOX control on some coal-fired plants, as SCR catalysts are known to further oxidize a portion of the flue gas SO{sub 2} to SO{sub 3}. The project is testing the effectiveness of furnace injection of four different calcium- and/or magnesium-based alkaline sorbents on full-scale utility boilers. These reagents have been tested during four one- to two-week tests conducted on two FirstEnergy Bruce Mansfield Plant units. One of the sorbents tested was a magnesium hydroxide slurry produced from a wet flue gas desulfurization system waste stream, from a system that employs a Thiosorbic{reg_sign} Lime scrubbing process. The other three sorbents are available commercially and include dolomite, pressure-hydrated dolomitic lime, and commercial magnesium hydroxide. The dolomite reagent was injected as a dry powder through out-of-service burners, while the other three reagents were injected as slurries through air-atomizing nozzles into the front wall of upper furnace, either across from the nose of the furnace or across from the pendant superheater tubes. After completing the four one- to two-week tests, the most promising sorbents were selected for longer-term (approximately 25-day) full-scale tests. The longer-term tests are being conducted to confirm the effectiveness of the sorbents tested over extended operation and to determine balance-of-plant impacts. This reports presents the results of the short-term tests; the long-term test results will be reported in a later document. The short-term test results showed that three of the four reagents tested, dolomite powder, commercial magnesium hydroxide slurry, and byproduct magnesium hydroxide slurry, were able to achieve 90% or greater removal of sulfuric acid compared to baseline levels. The molar ratio of alkali to flue gas sulfuric acid content (under baseline conditions) required to achieve 90% sulfuric acid removal was lowest for the byproduct magnesium hydroxide slurry. However, this result may be confounded because this was the only one of the three slurries tested with injection near the top of the furnace across from the pendant superheater platens. Injection at the higher level was demonstrated to be advantageous for this reagent over injection lower in the furnace, where the other slurries were tested.