Optimizing combustion in pulverized coal.docxVIP

+Optimizing combustion in pulverized coal (PC)-fired boilers today is more important today than ever. It is well known that the average American PC plant is over 30 years old and that over its lifetime NOx and SO2 emissions limits have been steadily ratcheted down (see box). Today, operators no longer wonder whether permissible levels will continue to fall but, rather, when and by how much.? ?? Change is in the air Tighter pollution control has been a common thread in the major evolutionary development of coal-fired generation over the past 30 years: Low-NOx burners, overfire air systems, and other furnace solutions have enabled major reductions in NOx emissions, from 0.5 to 1.5 lb/million Btu to less than 0.15 lb/million Btu. Many boilers designed to fire eastern and midwestern bituminous coals have been adapted to burn lower-sulfur Powder River Basin coal at reduced production costs. Pulverizers designed for coals with a Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) of 50 to 60 are today working with coals that have an HGI in the low 40s. Additions of electrostatic precipitator fields and back-end retrofits of baghouses, selective catalytic and noncatalytic reduction systems, and scrubbers have become commonplace. Distributed control systems and advanced electronic hardware and software have modernized and optimized boiler operations. Public and regulatory pressures are leaning toward mandatory CO2 emissions caps. ? The newest fork in coal-fired generations path forward is determining how to capture plant emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) when—not if—the gas is regulated as a pollutant. Some advocate widespread installations of unproven integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology ASAP, to prepare it as a long-term solution. Others say building fleets of super-efficient supercritical and ultrasupercritical-pressure and -temperature plants would be a timelier, more prudent, and more cost-effective alternative. But while regulators, Congress, and the courts wrestle