Grants and cooperative agreements; availability, etc.: Large Scale Mercury Control Field Testing Program,

[Federal Register: December 11, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 238)]

[Notices]

[Page 76168-76169]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr11de02-27]

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Availability of a Financial Assistance Solicitation

AGENCY: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of availability of a financial assistance solicitation.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the intent to issue Financial Assistance Solicitation No. DE-PS26-03NT41718 entitled ``Large Scale Mercury Control Field Testing Program''. The DOE/NETL is seeking applications to conduct long-term (minimum of two-to-four months at optimum process conditions) field testing of advanced mercury control technologies to (1) verify technology performance in terms of total (50-80%+ based on coal type, equipment, etc.) and speciated mercury removal relative to changes in load and coal-mercury concentration for all coal types (including blends) but emphasizing high-elemental, low rank coals, (2) determine realistic process/equipment costs for various levels of mercury removed for a variety of equipment configurations focusing on smaller surface collection area (SCA) electrostatic precipitators (SCA 2/ thousand actual cubic feet of flue-gas) for bituminous coals, (3) determine mercury removal levels for blends of different rank coals including subbituminous/high-sulfur bituminous; (4) quantify balance-of-plant (BOP) impacts such as Electro-Static Precipitator (ESP) performance, baghouse performance and bag life, byproduct contamination, corrosion, parasitic load, etc.; and (5) measure and assess potential multiple pollutant or co-control associated with mercury control technology.

In addition, several semi-continuous emission monitors (S-CEMS) would be used to monitor variations in mercury content of flue gas and track technology performance while collecting high quality inlet/outlet mercury speciation data with Ontario Hydro measurements at the beginning, middle and end of each test campaign (plus additional measurements as needed to verify S-CEM results). Tests of by-products may be limited to characterization tests (foaming index, etc.) but collection of enough samples would be obtained for other programs to conduct more detailed or extensive tests, and measurement of mercury in all streams (including water) to seek closure on mercury balances.

DATES: The solicitation will be available on the DOE/NETL's Internet address at http://www.netl.doe.gov/business and on the ``Industry Interactive Procurement System'' (IIPS) webpage located at http://e-center.doe.gov on or about December 30, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martin J. Byrnes, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, P.O. Box 10940, MS 921- 107, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, E-mail Address: byrnes@netl.doe.gov, Telephone Number: 412-386-4486.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NETL held two workshops (in June and September 2002) with key stakeholders from the utility industry, government agencies, research organizations, and academia to obtain input on the content and structure of future mercury research and development. A summary of the workshop proceedings can be found at http://www.netl.doe.gov/coalpower/environment. The workshop participants identified a number of different configurations and technologies that need further long-term testing.

In response, DOE-NETL is issuing a solicitation focused on four major areas that are expected to be important in developing mercury control strategies for the coal-fired electric utility industry and help ensure the continued availability of low-cost electricity from coal while meeting growing air quality demands. Details concerning the solicitation are described below (with allowable scale of testing described in Table 1). Topic Area 1 would focus on sorbent injection technology, Topic Area 2 would cover technologies aimed at wet flue-gas desulfurization enhancement, Topic Area 3 would seek proposals offering oxidation systems and Topic Area 4 would allow for any technologies ready for long-term field-testing. The solicitation supports the overall goal of the Department of Energy/Office of Fossil Energy's Innovations for Existing Plants (IEP) Program to develop advanced technology and knowledge products that enhance the environmental performance of the existing fleet of coal-

[[Page 76169]]

fired power plants. The four Areas of Interest for this solicitation are:

Topic 1: Field Testing of Activated Carbon/Sorbents Upstream/ Downstream of Existing Utility Particulate Control Devices for Bituminous and Low Rank Coals (Powder River Basin and Lignite).

Topic 2: Field Testing of Effective Mercury Control Technologies Upstream of and Across Wet Flue Gas Desulfurization Systems.

Topic 3: Field Testing of Non-Sorbent Based Concepts for Increasing the Oxidation of Elemental Mercury for Removal in Downstream Air Pollution Control Equipment.

Topic 4: Other Mercury Control Technologies Ready for Long-Term Field-Testing.

Table 1.--Topic Area Matrix

Coal type/existing equipment Topic area No.

Topic area

configuration

Scale of testing

1. Sorbent Injection...... Bituminous--SCA