Mercury Control From Industrial Boilers: Lessons Learned From the Electric Power Industry, 2003 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Upcoming regulations will require many commercial and industrial boilers to control mercury emissions. Mercury is emitted from a boiler during the combustion of solid fuels, such as wood and coal. The mercury may subsequently be removed along the process gas path or be emitted to the atmosphere in the gaseous or particulate phase. Mercury emissions from industrial boilers are not currently well understood making it difficult to estimate the costs of future controls. Such estimates are further confounded by the high degree of variability in fuels used to fire many boilers.

Research sponsored over the past decade by organizations such as the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the United States Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) has provided much insight into the reactions and control of mercury from coal-fired flue gas for the electric power industry. Results have shown that mercury emissions can vary appreciably depending upon fuel type, process configuration, and process operating conditions. The effectiveness of mercury controls can depend on many site-specific factors, including flue gas composition, mercury speciation, process operating conditions, and installed environmental controls. This paper summarizes what has been learned from this previous work and how this information can be applied to mercury control for boilers in the forest products industry.