REVIEW OF SORBENT INJECTION PROCESSES FOR LOW-COST SULFUR-DIOXIDE CONTROL

Over recent years there has been growing public awareness world-wide t hat the use of fossil fuels can have damaging consequences for the env ironment. As a result increased efforts are being made to reduce such adverse effects. A range of low-cost sorbent injection techniques for abatement of sulphur dioxide applicable to combustion plant and other process operations are available and development is continuing. These techniques are generally characterized by modest SO2 removal and low c apital cost. The potential for application depends on a range of plant specific factors, although their market niche is likely to be limited to smaller industrial scale plant or existing plant with a low residu al lifespan. The main barrier to their exploitation on such plant is c onsidered to be the general lack of operational experience, which does not help their acceptance by plant operators as an alternative to est ablished techniques such as spray drying and wet flue gas desulphuriza tion. This paper describes the options for sulphur dioxide abatement f rom combustion plant with particular reference to low-cost sorbent inj ection processes and discusses their applicability.