OCR Text |
Show CETC C A N M E T E n e r g y T e c h n o l o g y C e n t re Integrated Emissions Control Special Services and Facilities CETC's new collaborative program on integrated control of combustion emissions addresses the least cost and most energy efficient means of meeting current and anticipated environmental requirements. The program allows industry to meet today's regulations for SOx, NOx and particulate control while selecting technologies compatible with future requirements, including control trace elements. c BACKGROUND Factors such as changing fuel quality and more stringent environmental regulations create a constant challenge for utilities and users of industrial fuel. CETC's Integrated Emissions Control program helps Canadian industry respond to this challenge. CETC's furnace modeling and combustion research have already rendered valuable assistance to electrical utilities and other users of carbon-based fuels in the control of SOx, N O x and particulates. Today's social and economic pressures drive fuel users to achieve better energy efficiency (reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and limit trace element emissions while maintaining or improving SOx and N O x controls. CETC's Integrated Emissions Control program addresses interactions between control technologies. It offers pilot-scale analysis and evidence to fuel users as a basis for selecting cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies that both satisfy current environmental regulations and enhance the user's ability to meet the more stringent requirements of the future. The Canadian Environmental Protection Act defined several substances emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels as toxic. Environment Canada therefore initiated a "Strategic Options Process" to examine the impact and potential need for containment of nickel, arsenic, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and cadmium compounds as well as certain fluorides. The process will focus on the electric utility sector and report to the federal government, recommending options to reduce atmospheric emissions of these substances. Related environmental initiatives include the Acid Rain Program, the N O x / V O C Management Plan, the Canada/U.S. Air Quality Accord (which involves amendments to the U.S. Clean Air Act), the United Nations E C E Heavy Metal Protocol, and the Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics Program. CETC's Integrated Emissions Control program will assist utilities and other stakeholders in the Strategic Options Process to make recommendations that are based on soundly derived scientific and technical data. PROGRAM ELEMENTS Trace Elements CETC's Integrated Emissions Control program helps industry o specify the most economic and effective technologies for containing trace element emissions. It offers an integrated evaluation of the release of trace elements in conjunction with the performance of devices to control SOx, N O x and particles. It also determines the most cost-effective ways to meet both current and anticipated emission regulations for trace Vertical Combustor elements. The program can also identify the fate and pathway of trace elements released from the combustion of fuels or fuel mixtures. Particulate Control The Integrated Emissions Control program examines new systems to meet increasingly stringent requirements for higher levels of solids removal, especially ultra-fine particles. CETC's program examines the performance of current and new devices for containing fine particles and reducing opacity. It determines the extent of trace element concentration in the smallest emitted particles. By analyzing the interaction between particle collection devices and other emission controls, it defines the most economic way to meet regulations. SO* Control Optimal economic methods of SOx control depend on the level of sulphur in fuel as well as other emission regulations. The Integrated Emissions Control program offers industry a w a y to determine the most cost-effective pre- or post-combustion SOx control technology for specific circumstances. /V0X Control The Integrated Emissions Control program examines the conflict between N O x control and energy efficiency, |