COST-EFFECTIVE EMISSION CONTROLS FOR COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

Integrated environmental control (IEC) concepts involving combined SO2/NOx. removal processes in combination with pre-combustion and combustion control methods offer significant potential for more cost-effective emissions control for coal-fired power plants. IEC system designs involving three advanced flue gas treatment processes in conjunction with conventional and advanced coal cleaning technologies to achieve overall reductions of 90 percent for both SO2 and NOx are compared to a conventional pulverized coal plant design using currently available technology. A new computer modeling framework is used to characterize key uncertainties, and to evaluate overall performance and cost probabilistically using Monte Carlo methods. Results indicate that several IEC systems currently under development offer a good chance of reducing environmental control costs by 20 to 30 percent, although improvements in currently commercial technology are likely to offset some of the gains expected from advanced process designs...