Comparison of the Cost Effectiveness of New NO_x Control Technologies with Conventional Selective Catalytic Reduction for Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine Power Plants

摘要

In the latest wave of proposed combined cycle combustion turbine power facilities, there has been significant regulatory interest in California and Massachusetts in alternative NO_x and CO pollution control technologies. Two of these are Goal Line's/Alstom Power's SCONO_x~(TM), and Catalytica Energy Systems' XONON~(TM) Cool Combustion (XONON~(TM)) technologies. In addition, an alternative ammonia production system has emerged for application to conventional Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) -Environmental Elements Corporation's (EEC) Ammonia on Demand System (AOD). SCONO_x~(TM) is a catalytic technology that removes both NO_x and CO without the use of supplementary chemical reagents (e.g., ammonia). This system currently has two commercial installations: a 32-MW unit in California and a 5-MW unit in Massachusetts. XONON~(TM) is a catalytic combustion technology which operates at much lower temperatures, thus vastly reducing the amount of thermal NO_x generated in the combustion process. This system currently has one commercial installation: a 1.5 MW unit in California. AOD uses a solid prill urea to generate ammonia in lieu of either aqueous or anhydrous ammonia in a conventional SCR system. The first commercial installation of this system has just completed start up and is currently operational on a 565 MW utility boiler in Sandwich, Massachusetts. The pros and cons of each technology will be discussed. Their operational/development history and the status of their commercial availability on large combustion turbine power projects (greater than 100 MW) will also be presented. In addition, the capital and operating costs of these three technologies will be evaluated, using available vendor data and information in the public record. The capital and operating costs of SCONO_x~(TM) and XONON~(TM) will be analyzed in a Best Available Control Technology (BACT) analysis format including annualized operating and amortized capital costs (