EERC Awarded $2.3 Million Mercury Research Project

November 22, 2004 — By Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)

(GRAND FORKS, N.D.) - The University of North Dakota (UND) Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has been selected to lead a $2.3 million project at TXU Energy's Big Brown Station near Fairfield, Texas, to test promising control technologies for removing mercury from coal-fired power plants burning Texas lignites.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), will fund $1.5 million of the project. This is one of 14 new DOE mercury control technology long-term field testing efforts directed at developing cost-effective approaches to controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

TXU Energy, based in Dallas, provides electricity and related services to more than 2.6 million electricity customers throughout the state of Texas.

The project will focus on the removal of mercury from lignite combustion gases to achieve a high level of cost-effective control. Activated carbon injection will be used, which is considered to be one of the most promising options for meeting or exceeding the target removal rates proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA is slated to release mercury control regulations by March 15, 2005, that will affect the entire nation. Several states have also formed coalitions that will impose compliance standards which are potentially more restrictive than the national limits. DOE estimates that compliance with mercury regulations in the United States is expected to cost utilities $7 billion per year.

"We have put together an excellent team to address mercury removal from one of the most challenging coals-Texas lignite," said Project Manager John Pavlish.

The EERC team includes TXU, EPRI (Palo Alto, California), ADA-ES (Littleton, Colorado), Babcock & Wilcox (Barberton, Ohio), and a lignite consortium including utilities from North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Texas. The team will contribute 35% ($800,000) of the total project cost, which is about 15% over the required cost-share amount.

"This is another example of the leadership the EERC is providing globally with respect to understanding and controlling mercury," said EERC Director Gerald Groenewold. "We are very pleased to be working with DOE and TXU, organizations we've worked with in the past that have proven to be very progressive and forward-looking partners," he said.

"TXU is very excited about hosting this long-term project," said TXU Project Manager Bob Wiemuth. "We know the results will help to address future mercury control regulations for coal-fired utilities in the United States and Canada and allow us to meet or exceed the target 55% removal rate," he said. -END-

For more information contact: John Pavlish, EERC Senior Research Advisor, at (701) 777-5268 or jpavlish@undeerc.org or Tom Erickson, EERC Associate Director for Research, at (701) 777-5153 or terickson@undeerc.org

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For more information, contact:
John Pavlish
Senior Research Advisor
Energy & Environmental Research Center
(701) 777-5268
jpavlish@undeerc.org