COAL POWER Direct

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has adopted final rules tightening emissions limits for coal preparation and processing plants and imposing new reporting requirements on those facilities.

In a major air regulatory development, the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to issue rules by November 2011 to reduce mercury and other hazardous air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants under a settlement agreement resolving a lawsuit filed by a host of environmental organizations.

The Environmental Protection Agency has decided it will reconsider the 2008 ozone standards issued by the Bush administration, with the agency suggesting in a court that it would toughen the standards because it has concerns about whether standards “satisfy the requirements of the Clean Air Act.”

There are four approaches to measuring fly ash content and, therefore, the quality of fuel combustion in a boiler. Before choosing one, you should understand their relative levels of complexity and accuracy.

Erosion can significantly reduce the operational life of boiler components. Abrasion-resistant ceramic parts can be a sound alternative to expensive metallic parts when replacing boiler components.

If the basic science related to man’s contribution to a warming planet is based on flawed fundamental science, a conscious circumventing of the peer review process, political expediency, and refusing to release the fundamental data used by a computer program that has yet to replicate actual ambient temperatures, then it’s time to pause, take a breath, and regroup.

The decision to retube a heat exchanger or condenser begins with understanding why tubes are failing. Only when the “why” is understood can the economic replacement tube material be selected. We explore the most common tube material failure mechanisms and then illustrate how to perform a proper life-cycle analysis for that new set of condenser tubes your plant so desperately needs. In sum, there are many reasons to consider getting the copper out of your condenser.

In another major legal victory for states pressing for controls on industry emissions of carbon dioxide, a federal appeals court has reversed a lower court decision and ruled that eight states and the city of New York City could bring “nuisance” suits against five coal-burning utilities to curb greenhouse gas discharges that the states claim are causing damage to their natural resources.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it plans to “revise” existing, decades-old guidelines for water discharges of toxic metals from fossil fuel-fired power plants, saying a recently concluded EPA study focused mostly on wastewater discharges from coal-fired power plants uncovered elevated levels of toxic pollutants.

In a major climate change rulemaking, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued final regulations that will require most large emitters of greenhouse gases in the U.S. to report their emissions beginning in 2010.