Powerspan Corp. will pilot test a multi-pollutant technology that converts mercury into mercuric oxide, nitrogen oxide to nitric acid and sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid from coal-fired flue gas streams with gas flow rates up to 4,000 cubic feet/minute. Fine particulates will also be collected. Mercury capture is to exceed 90 percent, and an understanding of what influences mercury removal is to be investigated. The project will be conducted at FirstEnergy Corporation's R.E. Burger Generation Station in Akron, OH.

Public Abstract: Coal-fired utility boilers are facing increasingly stringent emissions regulations. At the forefront of these are regulations on the release of nitrogen oxides (NOx). However, potential limits on air toxic compounds such as mercury and arsenic, and on fine particulate matter, are expected. In order to provide clean, competitively priced power from existing coal-fired generating plants a cost-effective, multi-pollutant control technology is needed.

Powerspan Corp. (New Durham, NH) is conducting pilot scale testing of a multi-pollutant control system in cooperation with FirstEnergy Corporation (Akron, OH) at First Energy's R. E. Burger Generating Station. In addition to reducing emissions of NOx, sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), the technology has demonstrated capture of mercury (>80%) and other air-toxic compounds such as arsenic (>99%) and hydrochloric acid (>70%). Named Electro-Catalytic Oxidation^TM (ECO), the process utilizes a barrier discharge to oxidize mercury to mercuric oxide, NOx to nitric acid, and SO₂ to sulfuric acid. Products of the oxidation process are captured in a wet electrostatic precipitator that also collects fine particulate matter.

A pilot test program to optimize the capture of mercury while maintaining removal of NOx, SO₂ and fine particulate matter from coal combustion flue gas is proposed. The program's purpose is to demonstrate high levels of mercury capture (>90%) while gaining an understanding of the factors that influence mercury removal. In addition, the program at Burger station will focus on commercial application of the ECO technology and is designed to show the efficiency and reliability of the technology in an actual flue gas stream at gas flow rates up to 4000 cubic feet per minute.

Successful completion of the pilot-test program will provide the technical and economic basis for scale-up of ECO technology to commercial application on coal-fired utility boilers. The technology will be optimized for mercury removal while at the same time achieving high levels of reduction in the emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and fine particulate matter.