CONSOL Energy And AES Greenidge Announce Successful Demonstration Of Multi-Pollutant Control Technology For Smaller Coal-Fired Plants
April 7, 2009
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) and AES Greenidge LLC, part of AES Eastern Energy, L.P. a wholly-owned subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), announced today that they have successfully demonstrated a compact, cost-effective multi-pollutant control technology that is well suited for reducing air emissions from smaller coal-fired power plants. There are more than 400 smaller coal-fired plants, with capacities between 50 MW and 300 MW that are currently operating in the U.S.
The demonstration project was part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Power Plant Improvement Initiative and also included Babcock Power Environmental Inc. as engineering, procurement and construction contractor. The DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory oversaw the project through a cooperative agreement with CONSOL Energy.
The multi-pollutant control technology was installed on AES Greenidge's 100 MW Unit 4 in Dresden, New York, and began operating in early 2007. Performance testing data collected through June 2008 showed average removal efficiencies of 96 percent for sulfur dioxide, 95 percent for sulfur trioxide, 97 percent for hydrogen chloride, and 98 percent for mercury. Emissions of nitrogen oxides were also significantly reduced and particulate matter emissions were reduced by more than 98 percent relative to the emission rate observed prior to installation of the technology.
"CONSOL Energy is pleased to have played a major role, along with the DOE and AES Greenidge, in demonstrating this highly effective multi-pollutant control technology," said J. Brett Harvey, CONSOL Energy's president and CEO. "We believe it will help our customers meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations with their smaller plants. These plants have a combined capacity of almost 60,000 MW and collectively they are essential to our nation's electricity supply."
"The multi-pollutant control project with CONSOL Energy, Babcock Power Environmental, and the DOE has enabled us to deliver a valuable source of electricity for the region, while continuing to lower emissions in a cost-effective way. This project is an example of the kind of initiatives AES Eastern Energy has taken to reduce total air emissions," said Doug Roll, Plant Manager at AES Greenidge.
Since acquiring its New York plants in 1999, AES Eastern Energy has invested approximately $150 million in environmental modifications that have substantially reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and acid gases.
The multi-pollutant control system at AES Greenidge cost 40 percent less to construct and required significantly less land area than conventional selective catalytic reduction and wet flue gas desulfurization technologies when applied to a 100 MW unit. The system included Fuel Tech's NOxOUT CASCADE® hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction / selective catalytic reduction technology to control nitrogen oxides and Babcock Power's Turbosorp® circulating fluidized bed dry scrubbing technology to control sulfur dioxide, mercury, sulfur trioxide, hydrogen chloride, and particulate matter.
The project at AES Greenidge represents the first application in which these technologies were combined to form an integrated multi-pollutant control system, as well as the first application of either technology to a unit firing high-sulfur coal.
About CONSOL Energy
CONSOL Energy Inc., a high-Btu bituminous coal and coal bed methane company, is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Equity Index and has annual revenues of $4.7 billion. It has 17 bituminous coal mining complexes in six states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.5 billion tons. CONSOL Energy was named one of America's most admired companies in 2005 by Fortune magazine. It received the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining for the company's innovative reclamation practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003, the company was listed in Information Week magazine's "Information Week 500" list for its information technology operations. In 2002, the company received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award. Additional information about the company can be found at its web site: www.consolenergy.com.
About The AES Corporation
The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) is a Fortune 500 global power company with generation and distribution businesses. Through our diverse portfolio of thermal and renewable fuel sources, we safely provide affordable and sustainable energy to 29 countries. Our workforce of 25,000 people is committed to operational excellence and meeting the world's changing power needs. Our 2008 revenues were $16 billion and we manage more than $35 billion in total assets. BusinessWeek named AES to its 2009 "BW 50" list. To learn more, please visit www.aes.com.
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Copyright Business Wire 2009