ADVANCED COAL-FIRED LOW-EMISSION BOILER SYSTEMS

As part of the Combustion 2000 Program of the US Department of Energy, advanced low-emission boiler systems are being developed for future c oal-fired power plants. These plants will be extremely clean, highly e fficient and economic, by employing emerging and state-of-the-art tech nologies. The emissions of SO., NO(x) and particulates from the plants will be much lower than the current new source performance standards (NSPS), and the net plant efficiency of generating electricity will be higher than that of today's pulverized-coal-fired utility plants. The high plant efficiency results in low fuel use and reduced emission of gases (CO2) associated with global warming. At present, engineering d evelopment of advanced systems is being conducted by three industry te ams. The development work includes new emission control technologies, state-of-the-art boiler designs and low-temperature heat recovery syst ems for improved plant efficiencies, systems for improved ash disposab ility and reduced waste generation, and optimum system integration and plant controls. The technologies considered by these teams for low-em ission boiler systems are discussed.