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Show Four Very Low Emissions (VLE) projects were initiated during this year. The goal of these three projects is to reduce NOx emissions from the combustion of natural gas to the single digit level, a level generally lower than the compliance levels required today, but anticipated for the future. Emissions targets in this range can now be obtained using selective catalytic reduction (SCR). SCR is an expensive system, requiring substantial capital investment and incurring high operating costs. Other pollutant emissions, such as those from CO, are to be low as well, not exceeding 50 ppm in the case of CO. The combustion systems being developed by Alzeta, the Institute of Gas Technology, Praxair and DB Riley are designed to meet emission and efficiency targets and to be competitive in cost. An analysis recently completed by SFA Pacific, Inc. showed that the incremental capital investment required for the purchase and installation of VLE burners will be only about 10-35% of that required for SCR. The analysis showed further that VLE burners would have significant economic benefits even if their initial purchase price were high. It is expected that VLE burners will be no more expensive than conventional low NOx burners to manufacture, and any initial premium relative to current low NOx burners is likely to moderate, if not disappear entirely, over time due to the highly competitive nature of the burner market. The analysis showed further that energy savings resulting from the use of VLE burners rather than SCR in areas where required would save over 8 trillion Btu annually. Among the four VLE projects, Alzeta is targeting the petroleum industry with their radiation stabilized distributed flux burner. Chevron is on board and is expected to provide a refinery host site. Praxair is targeting the steel industry with their dilute oxygen combustion system and is actively seeking a steel industry host. The Institute of Gas Technology and DB Riley are still identifying candidate industries for their projects. Several activities with an emissions and burner focus apply to a number of industries and are what DOE terms "crosscutting". One of these is the Burner Engineering Research Laboratory (BERL) at Sandia Livermore which is conducted jointly with the Gas Research Institute (GRI). 5 |