New York Sites to Host Demonstrations of Clean Coal Pollution Control Systems

Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Areas to Benefit

A Department of Energy (DOE) Clean Coal Technology project, originally slated for Kentucky, is being relocated to New York State where its advanced method of pollution control might one day offer particular benefits for the environmentally sensitive Adirondack and Catskill Mountains.

DOE announced today that it had approved a proposal to relocate the "micronized coal reburning" demonstration project to the New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (NYSEG) Milliken Generating Station in Lansing, NY. As part of the proposal, the technology will also be installed at a second, smaller boiler operated by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY.

"Micronized coal reburning" offers an innovative way to reduce the release of nitrogen oxides. Nitrogen oxides are emitted from power plants and vehicles and have been linked to high levels of ozone and acid rain in the Northeast. Much of the environmental concern has centered around the impact of these pollutants on forests and watersheds in the mountain ranges of New York and surrounding states.

The new technology could potentially cut a coal-burning power plant's nitrogen oxides emissions in half. It is designed to be retrofitted to older coal-burning power plants as well as integrated into the designs of new plants.

A first-of-a-kind demonstration of the technology originally was to be hosted by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) at its Shawnee Power Plant in Paducah, KY. TVA, however, found that the plant was not suitable for the demonstration and recommended that the project be moved to another utility site. NYSEG and Eastman Kodak expressed interest in the new pollution control technology and offered to share responsibilities for carrying out the test program.

In approving the changes in the project, DOE is getting two demonstrations for a total Federal investment that will be less than the original project.

NYSEG has agreed to limit DOE's cost in the project to $2.5 million, a reduction of $1 million from the original Federal cost-sharing in the TVA project. (Since DOE had already provided about $200,000 in matching funds for the TVA project, actual savings to the Government will be about $800,000.) NYSEG and Kodak will contribute the additional $6.5 million necessary for the project.

DOE's funding will be used to install and test the reburning system. NYSEG, Kodak and other project partners will fund the design and engineering work. NYSEG is expected to begin modifying its Milliken Station immediately to prepare for the demonstration. The new technology should be installed and producing test data by this summer. Construction and installation at the Kodak site is expected to be completed in early 1997 and will be followed by a one-year demonstration test run.

The advanced technology actually uses coal as a pollution control method. Typical coal-fired boilers burn coal in a single combustion zone, injecting plentiful amounts of air so that the coal burns completely. The high flame temperatures cause nitrogen in the air and the coal to join with oxygen to form nitrogen oxide pollutants.

In the micronized coal reburning technology, a row of coal burners is installed above the main combustion zone to create a second "reburn" zone. In the reburn zone, finely milled coal - "micronized" to a consistency even finer than talcum powder - is injected along with only a minimal amount of oxygen. This oxygen-lean, fuel-rich zone breaks down the nitrogen oxide molecules formed in the hotter, main combustion zone. The result is a staged method of combustion that releases 50 to 60 percent less nitrogen oxides than a conventional boiler.

At the Milliken Station, the new technology will be integrated with another Clean Coal Technology project that is demonstrating an improved way to reduce sulfur dioxide pollutants which also contribute to acid rain. The Milliken test will provide an opportunity to determine the effectiveness of the reburning technology on a 150-megawatt tangentially-fired boiler, a type of boiler in which the main coal burners point at angles, or tangents, around the walls of the boiler. More than a third of the existing coal-fired electric generating capacity in the U.S. uses tangentially-fired boilers.

The Kodak test will involve retrofitting a 50-megawatt cyclone boiler -- a type of boiler in which coal is burned in a separate chamber outside the main furnace. Because of their high combustion temperatures, many cyclone boilers produce large amounts of nitrogen oxides. Kodak is particularly interested in the reburning technology to meet its State requirements to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

Following the demonstration tests, if the technology proves attractive, NYSEG and Kodak have agreed to promote commercialization of the micronized coal reburning process. As many as 400 boilers in the United States will be faced with more stringent controls on nitrogen oxides under the 1990 Clean Air Amendments.

Information Contacts:
Hattie Wolfe, DOE Fossil Energy Headquarters, 202/586-6503, e-mail: hattie.wolfe@hq.doe.gov
Patrice Leister, DOE Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center, 412/892-6126, e-mail: leister@petc.doe.gov