Flue gas cleaning

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The purpose of a flue gas cleaning system is to reduce
atmospheric emissions of substances hazardous to the
environment and health. This includes e.g. heavy metals, dioxins
and substances that cause acidification and eutrophication.
Because many of the substances are toxic and carcinogenic, it is
important to reduce their emissions. The acidification of forests
and lakes has been reduced substantially by removing sulfur
dioxide and oxides of nitrogen from flue gas.

Babcock & Wilcox Vølund AB offers both subsystems and fully

assembled installations for cleaning flue gases generated by the
incineration of e.g. hazardous municipal and industrial waste and
the combustion of biofuels. Metal, chemical and process industries
are also numbered among our customers. Together with our owner,
Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S, we are able to provide turnkey
installations from fuel feed to smokestack (see NextBAT  below) and
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with exceptional flue gas cleaning where required.

Our flue gas cleaning systems are customized to meet our
customers' specific requirements. We often combine wet and dry
flue gas cleaning. We place great emphasis on ensuring our
installations easily exceed emission standards according to
applicable EU directives and also anticipated future standards.
Products
More than 40 incineration lines are in operation with flue gas cleaning
systems from Babcock & Wilcox Vølund AB. We have also installed our
ADIOX  dioxin removal technology in more than one hundred incineration
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lines. We upgrade existing installations to meet increasingly restrictive

environmental standards and deliver our unique, compact systems to new
installations. Flue gas cleaning systems are often integrated with flue gas
condensation for energy recovery in multi-stage scrubber systems.
We provide the following principal processes, of which many can be
combined to advantage:

 Dry and semi-dry flue gas cleaning

 Wet flue gas cleaning 
 Water treatment in conjunction with wet flue gas cleaning
 Energy recovery with flue gas condensation
 Catalytic NOx reduction using SCR technology
We have developed many, unique technologies:

 ADIOX® – dioxin removal using carbon-doped plastics in scrubbers and

absorbers.
 MERCOX™ – oxidation and removal of mercury in wet scrubbers.
 CUTNOX  – reduction of NOx formation in grate furnace systems using
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air-water jets.
 Multi-stage scrubbers – compact, multi-functional units with small
footprints.
 Sulfur recirculation – reduction of high temperature corrosion by
returning sulfur to the furnace.
 Wet electrostatic precipitators – separation of dust and particulates in a
wet scrubber.
NextBAT®  ̶  from crane to stack
In collaboration with our owners, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S, we have
developed a concept for turnkey NextBAT® installations that offers
exceptionally low emissions and will meet the requirements of the coming
waste incineration BREF.
Read more about how NextBAT® integrates furnace technology with flue gas
cleaning technology here.

Flue gas treatment

Our subsidiary B&W Vølund AB's flue gas cleaning systems are purpose-
designed to treat the gas such that emission limits are well met with
acceptable margins.

Obtain 95-99% clean flue gas

Swedish B&W Vølund AB is a world leader in flue gas cleaning technologies.
It is their technology on which we base our flue gas cleaning systems, which
guarantee extremely low emissions.

Together with B&W Vølund AB we offer multifunctional compact solutions

where the different components of the flue gas from your plant can be
captured within a single wet scrubber. Our flue gas cleaning systems are
purpose-designed to treat the gas so that emission limits meet acceptable
margins during fluctuations in the gas composition
Exceptionally low emissions with our new generation flue
gas treatment
Did you know that European waste-to-energy plants have the lowest
emissions limits of all industrial sectors?

We treat the flue gas in a scrubber tower through a series of absorption,

scrubbing and filtering systems. Both dry and semi-dry treatments require a
great deal of lime, which leaves a certain amount of toxic residue (such as
reaction products and fly ash) that must be disposed of according to specific
rules. The wet treatment is carried out in several compartments in one multi-
wash tower and does not produce anywhere near as much toxic residue.  If
energy recovery through condensation is incorporated, then condensate
water can be cleaned and reused as boiler or district heating feed water.

Wet treatment: designed for a future of stricter emission

requirements and with a minimum of residue
Wet treatment is designed for stricter future emission requirements and is
initially more expensive than dry or semi-dry treatment. In turn, the cleaning
can follow stricter emission requirements over time, with significantly lower
chemical usage and without exponentially increasing quantities of residue,
which is the case with semi-dry treatment. Together, we and our subsidiary
B&W Vølund AB have produced a future-proof system.

CUTNOX™ reduces your NOx emissions

When treating waste at high temperatures, nitrogen oxides (NO x) are formed.
To reduce the emission of NOx at waste combustion we use Götaverken
Miljö’s CUTNOX™ technology.

CUTNOX™ works by injecting a jet of water and air into the lower part of the
furnace. This jet creates a rotation, which results in unreacted oxygen from
the char combustion mixing with unburned components from the volatile
combustion (the flames). This brings an extra stage to the combustion
process, which reduces NOxformation.

On top of this, the injected water reduces the combustion temperature, which
further reduces the initial NOx-formation. A low initial formation of
NOx improves the following de-NOx process in the flue gas cleaning, and
provides greatly lowered emission levels and reduced cost for ammonia
additives if combined with an SNCR system.

RESOX™ decreases corrosion rate and increases electricity

production
RESOX™ is a unique technology for decreasing the corrosion rate for super
heaters or, if the boiler pressure and super heater temperature is raised, for
increasing the electricity production in waste-to-energy plants.
Our subsidiary B&W Vølund AB has a world-wide exclusive license on this
technology, invented by Hans Hunsinger at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Reducing dioxin levels by recirculating sulphur from wet flue

gas to the boiler
B&W Vølund's innovative sulphur recirculation process allows us to reduce
the corrosion rate of the super heaters in waste-to-energy plants. We do this
by recirculating sulphur from the wet flue gas cleaning back to the boiler.
This reduces the chloride content of the deposits, which in turn reduces
boiler corrosion and dioxin formation.

Less dioxin to become landfill

Sulphur dioxide is removed from the flue gas in a wet scrubber by adding
hydrogen peroxide, thereby producing sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid is
then injected into the furnace using nozzles with atomization air, surrounded
by recirculated flue gas, or air, for improved mixing. By recirculating the
sulphur, the concentration of sulphur dioxide in the boiler increases. Each
sulphur atom passes the boiler several times and no external sulphur has to
be added.

When applying this technology to a full-scale waste-to-energy plant, the dioxin

concentration of the flue gas was reduced by approximately one quarter.
Meanwhile the chlorobenzenes were reduced by half with a slight reduction of
the dioxin levels in the fly ash. Together with the reduced amount of fly ash,
this leads to less dioxin being landfilled.

RESOX™ is recycling – no additives needed, no increase in

residues
Corrosion probe measurements show that the corrosion rate for super heater
material is less than half with RESOX™ in operation. Other studies have
shown a beneficial effect on corrosion by using sulphur as an additive to the
combustion chamber. B&W Vølund's technology is, however, unique in the
way that it uses only the existing sulphur in the fuel and therefore does not
increase the amount of residue produced.

We take dioxins out of the eco cycle with ADIOX®

In our wet scrubber tower the flue gas is showered with water. First, dust and
particles are caught and separated, heavy metals are extracted, sulphur is
removed, acid components of the flue gases are removed, and organic
pollutants like dioxins are absorbed, captured, and finally destroyed.

To absorb dioxin we use the ADIOX® technology developed by B&W Vølund.

The patented ADIOX® process is based on the high affinity of dioxins to
carbon. By dispersing small particles of carbon in PP-plastics, a material
excellent for dioxin abatement is produced. A dioxin molecule that is present
in the flue gas is initially absorbed into the PP and then migrates to a carbon
particle where it is strongly adsorbed (connected to its surface). The plastic
material acts as a selective membrane with a preference for molecules like
dioxins. When the service life of ADIOX® has come to an end, the material is
combusted. The dioxins are destroyed during the combustion process and the
dioxins are taken out from the eco cycle.

ADIOX® is produced and installed as tower packing material and droplet

separators. It can be installed in wet, saturated, and dry applications.

Removing mercury with MERCOX™

During the combustion of material containing mercury, the mercury is
released almost completely into the flue gases. To remove it we
use MERCOX™, a mercury-removal process developed by our subsidiary, B&W
Vølund AB in cooperation with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the leading
research institute in the field of mercury, dioxins, and aerosols.

The process utilises the environmentally friendly oxidising agent hydrogen

peroxide, together with an additive, to oxidise the metallic mercury. This
means that the MERCOX™ mercury-removal process can separate different
forms of mercury. Sulphur dioxide is also oxidised to sulphuric acid, and
hydrochloric acid is dissolved in the scrubber liquid. An acid water flow
containing mercury is transferred from the scrubber to the water-cleaning
process for neutralization and precipitation of mercury.

The advantages of the MERCOX™ technology is that it allows you to have a

higher mercury (Hg) content in your fuel without it increasing your emissions.
It offers system cost optimization because there are several functions in one
unit, for example, integrated SO2 and HCI removal. It also permits high
concentration peaks because of the large buffer capacity and produces very
little residue, leaving you with a low residue handling cost.

Reduce your emissions of hazardous particles and aerosols

with scrubber integrated WESP
Improved dust separation at waste combustion is a very important issue as
the finest particles are able to penetrate deeply into the lungs and other body
tissues of people.

To make sure that our waste-to-energy systems are sustainable and meet
future requirements in relation to emissions of ultrafine particles and
aerosols, Götaverken Miljö has developed a scrubber-integrated new type of
WESP (Wet ElectroStatic Precipitator) that separates dust, droplets, fine
particles (< 2,5 μm) and submicron particles (< 1 μm) from flue gases.

High amount of fine particles removed with minimum energy

consumption
The advantages of B&W Vølund AB's WESP technology are that a very high
removal of fine particles is achieved, while the WESP unit has a very low
energy consumption compared to other dust separation methods (bag house
filter or venturi). Dust measurements and continuous measurements of
particle size distribution have shown outlet dust concentrations <0,3 mg/Nm3,
dry gas and a typical removal efficiency of 99%.

Flue gas condensing: capturing water from the flue gas

makes your plant highly energy efficient
In the wet scrubber tower we have installed heat exchangers that catch the
water vapour from the flue gas. The energy coming from the condensed water
in the flue gases can be used normally for producing more heat for a district
heating grid.

This makes our waste-to-energy plants some of the most efficient plants on
the market, obtaining a total energy recovery of 99%. If you have an existing
plant you can increase your energy recovery by 20-25% per cent with flue gas
condensation.

Read more about energy recovery by flue gas condensing.

If you are interested to know more about our flue gas cleaning technology,
please contact Per Lindgren, per.lindgren@gmab.se, (+46) 708 964682

Read more about B&W Vølund AB's flue gas cleaning.