Mercury control technology to be tested at Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station
Elk River, MN (July 21, 2001) - Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station, located in central North Dakota, was one of two sites selected for testing a novel mercury control technology, known as mercury catalytic oxidation. The nearly $1.2 million testing project, being conducted by the URS Group, Inc. of Austin, Tex., was awarded almost $900,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). EPRI, the North Dakota Industrial Commission and Great River Energy also are providing funding for the research project.
The mercury catalytic oxidation process converts elemental mercury found in the flue gas at Coal Creek Station into soluble oxidized mercury, which can be removed by the plants’ existing sulfur dioxide scrubbers. The one-year test will determine the effectiveness and life of various catalyst materials. A smaller scale and shorter duration project was conducted at Coal Creek Station late last year that demonstrated that the process works. The new study will evaluate the effectiveness of different catalysts and determine which offer the best economics.
In its latest round of funding, DOE provided nearly $8 million for six new projects to develop innovative technologies to reduce mercury emissions from coal plants more effectively.
The challenge of reducing mercury emissions from power plants today is that no uniform method of technology exists. Current pollution controls were designed for other pollutants, and their effectiveness in reducing mercury emissions can vary from boiler to boiler. Depending upon the power plant, reduction levels can range from 90 percent to zero.
“This study focuses on just one of the promising technologies Great River Energy is looking at for potentially controlling mercury emissions,” says Great River Energy’s Mark Strohfus.
Other projects receiving DOE funding were submitted by the University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks; CONSOL, Inc., of Library, PA; Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, AL; Powerspan Corp., of Durham, NH; and Apogee Scientific, Inc., of Englewood, CO.
“Great River Energy believes that taking care of the environment makes good business sense,” adds Strohfus. The organization has reduced the use of mercury in its operations and studied how it can reduce mercury emissions for a number of years. In addition, Great River Energy has filed a voluntary agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that details plans for further reducing mercury emissions.
Great River Energy provides wholesale electric service to 29 electric distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its North Dakota power plants -- Coal Creek Station and Stanton Station -- employ more than 300 people in Mercer and McLean counties.
