(Mercury cycle inside of a coal plant, image courtesy of Southern Company)
According to a recent article from Power magazine, the EPA is likely going to release a new emissions standard for dealing with the mercury in power plants. This new proposal could come as early as March of next year, which means that many power generation plants will need to make drastic revisions to their machinery which works directly with mercury. Some companies, like Southern Company (The ones responsible for this week's graphic) have already started to develop innovative new technologies to help them lower the amount of mercury released from their plants.
The article from Power magazine has this to say regarding their new technologies:
"Mercury emissions from Southern Company's bituminous coal units have been reduced substantially as a result of co-benefit control. Currently, these AQCSs are designed and operated for removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). The result is highly variable mercury emissions from a system not engineered for mercury control. This variability must be accounted for in evaluating co-benefit systems and their potential to comply with limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that are expected to be part of the electric generating units' Haps maximum achievable control technology rules."
Pre-eminently developing similar technologies or replicating Southern Company's process might be the best bet for other industrial plants to save themselves money and the headaches that can sometimes can be associated with new emissions regulations. At the Power Generation Blog, we recommend that if your power plant uses coal and vaporizes mercury that you start to look into these new processes now and not wait for next March when the rules will most likely change.
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