Mercury Study Report to Congress Volume VIII : An Evaluation of Mercury Control Technologies and Costs

By Environmental Protection Agency

Book Id: WPLBN0000155600
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.8 MB
Reproduction Date: 2007

Title:	Mercury Study Report to Congress Volume VIII : An Evaluation of Mercury Control Technologies and Costs
Author:	Environmental Protection Agency
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Ecology, Natural resource issues, Environemtal protection
Collections:	Environmental Awareness Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States Environmental Protection Agency


Citation APA MLA Chicago Protection Agency, B. E. (n.d.). Mercury Study Report to Congress Volume VIII : An Evaluation of Mercury Control Technologies and Costs. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: Section 112(n)(1)(B) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to submit a study on atmospheric mercury emissions to Congress. The sources of emissions that must be studied include electric utility steam generating units, municipal waste combustion units and other sources, including area sources. Congress directed that the Mercury Study evaluate many aspects of mercury emissions, including the rate and mass of emissions, health and environmental effects, technologies to control such emissions and the costs of such controls. In response to this mandate, U.S. EPA has prepared an eight-volume Mercury Study Report to Congress. This Report -- Volume VIII of the Mercury Study Report to Congress -- provides information on mercury control technologies, associated costs and regulatory issues. It describes and analyzes additional technologies that could bring about reductions of mercury emissions, and existing state and federal programs that control the use and release of mercury. This Report also describes management alternatives and U.S. EPA's statutory authority to control mercury emissions under section 112 of the CAA.

Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page U.S. EPA AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii SCIENTIFIC PEER REVIEWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv WORK GROUP AND U.S. EPA/ORD REVIEWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x LIST OF SYMBOLS, UNITS AND ACRONYMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ES-1 1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1 1.1 Risk Management Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1 1.2 Report Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 2. MERCURY CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1 2.1 Pollution Prevention and Other Management Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1 2.1.1 Product Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 2.1.2 Process Modification for Mercury Cell Chlor-Alkali Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7 2.1.3 Materials Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8 2.1.4 Coal Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11 2.1.5 Alternative Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13 2.2 Flue Gas Treatment for Sources Other Than Utility Boilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18 2.2.1 Carbon Filter Beds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19 2.2.2 Use of Wet Scrubbers for Waste Combustors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22 2.2.3 Depleted Brine Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24 2.2.4 Treated Activated Carbon Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24 2.2.5 Selenium Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-25 2.2.6 Activated Carbon Injection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-27 2.3 Flue Gas Treatment for Utility Boilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29 2.3.1 Activated Carbon Injection for Utility Boilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29 2.3.2 Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) Scrubbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-47 2.3.3 Spray Dryer FGD Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-50 2.4 Research and Emerging Technologies for Controlling Mercury Emissions from Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-50 2.4.1 Sorbent Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-54 2.4.2 Improving the Mercury Capture Efficiency of Existing Pollution Control Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .