Engr.

Jojo Basa

Flue Gas
Desulfurization
 Introduction
AIR of all earth’s natural resources, air is the most
shared. It is categories as common, it does not
obey geopolitical boundaries. Once polluted, air
cannot be remediated immediately with
technology.
Air Pollution
• any alteration made to the physical, chemical
and biological properties of atmospheric air and
is expected to be detrimental to once health and
to the environment
 Standard Criteria (EPA)

• Primary Standard
– Established to protect the human health with an
adequate margin of safety.
• Secondary Standard
– This are intended to prevent environmental and
property damages
DAO 2000-81 of RA8749
 Major Pollutants
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
– Colorless, odorless and lethal to human
• Effects
– Chronic pulmonary disease
– Heart and circulatory ailments

• Lead (Pb)
– Cumulative poisoning usually it is ingested in food
and water as well as inhaled
• Effects
– Anemia, fatigue, mild headache, irritable
– High level of exposure- acute brain damage
– Acute exposure – convulsion, coma, cardiorespiratory arrest
and death
 Major Pollutants
• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
– Oxides of Nitrogen has pungient sweetish odor
• Concentrated form – reddish brown
• Lower concentration – brownish yellow
• Effects
– At 5ppm in 15mins
» Cough
» Irritation of respiratory track

• Particulate Matter (PM)

– At high Level
» increase risk of respiratory diseases and loss of lung
function
 Major Pollutants
• Photochemical Oxidant
– PAN, PBzN, Nox, aldehydes, acrolein
– Ozone is the major oxidant
– It is also the indicator of the total amount of oxidant
presence in the air
• Effects
– 0.1 ppm –eye irritation
– 0.3 ppm – cough and chest discomfort

• Sulfur Oxides
 Sulfur Dioxide and Trioxide
• Source of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
– Naturally occuring from volcanic eruption
– Burning of Fossil fuel (esp.coal) from power plant
– Industrial Combustion and Refineries
– Cement and Lime Kilns

• Source of Sulfur Trioxide (SO3)

– SO2 with too much oxygen
– Flue gas at high temperature SO3 is favored
– Catalyst by metals in fuel SO3 is formed
 Common Effects Of FGD
• Acid Rain
– causes acidification of lakes and streams
– accelerates the decay of building materials
and paints
– Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and (NOx) gases and
(PM) particulate matter, contribute to
visibility degradation
– Serious side effects of acid rain on human
is respiratory problems, such as dry
coughs, asthma, headaches, eye, nose,
and throat irritation
 Flue-gas desulfurization

• Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD)

• Wet Scrubber
• Acid rain control
– is a technology used to remove sulfur dioxide
(SO2) from the exhaust flue gases of fossil-
fuel power plants, and chemical producers of
sulphur oxides.
 History
• 1850 – Early ideas on FGD were
established in England

• 1920s – due to large power plants, SO2

emissions began to concern the public.

• 1929 – House of Lords upheld claims to the

Barton Electricity Works of the
Manchester Corp due to SO2 emissions.
Due to press outcry, SO2 controls was
impose to power plants.
 History

• 1931 – first major FGD unit was installed at Battersea

Power Station owned by London Power Company
• 1935 – Second similar FGD unit was installed Swansea
Power Station
• 1938 – Third major FGD unit was installed at Fulham
Power Station

This three early large -scale FGD were abandoned during

World War II and re-apper in 1970s and most installation
are in U.S. and Japan
 History

3 Major Air Pollution Episodes

Location Date Source of Suspected Number of
Pollution Pollutants Death
Mouse Valley, Oct 1-5, 1930 Steel and Zinc Sulfur Oxides 63
Belgium Plant Industry with
Particulates
Donara, Oct 2-31,1948 Steel and Zinc Sulfur Oxides 17
Pennsylvania Plant Industry with
Particulates

London Dec 5-9, 1952 Household Sulfur Oxides 4000

coal burning with
Particulates
 History

• 1973 – 42 FGD units are in operation, 36 in Japan

and 6 in U.S. with ranging capacity from 5MW to 250
MW

• 1999 and 2000, FGD units were being used in 27

countries, and there were 678 FGD units operating at
a total power plant capacity of about 229 GW.
– 45% - U.S.
– 24% - Germany
– 11% - Japan
– 20% - Other countries
 Basic Principles
• Most FGD systems employ two stages:
– Fly Ash Removal
• Removal of fly ash by (EP) Electrostatic
Precipitator or wet scrubber.
– SO2 removal
• SO2 absorber using absorbent or reagent
• In dry injection or spray drying operations, the
SO2 is first reacted with the sorbent, and then
the flue gas passes through a particulate
control device.
 Basic Principles
• Steps of Removing Pollutant Gas

– Diffusion of pollutant gas to the surface of the liquid

– Dissolution ( transfer across the gas-liquid interface)

– Diffusion of dissolved gas away from the interface into the

liquid
Factors Affecting the Operation of FGD scrubber

• Liquid to Gas Ratio • Gas Velocity

– L/G ratio should be at a – To minimize the cost, scrubber are
Minimum for a minimum cost designed to operate at maximum
– High L/G ratio will result practicable gas velocity
more piping and structural – 2 m/s – 3 m/s, common range of
design consideration, result gas velocity
to high cost. • Residence Time
• pH – The time of the absorber vessel
– This must be kept at a for the SO2 to be absorbed by the
certain range to ensure high alkali slurry
solubility of SO2 and prevent – For Packed Tower it can be as
scaling long as 5 seconds
– For Venturi Srubbers , few
hundredths of a second
Factors Affecting the Operation of FGD scrubber

• Gas Distribution
– Gas flow should be uniform for the scrubber to operate at
is max. efficiency
– In practice, it is very difficult to achieve, some uses
compartmentalization, others putting turning vanes near
the scrubber inlet duct

• Sulfur Content , Ash Content and Chlorine Content

– This will determine the required flue gas removal
efficiency, complexity and affects on sulfite oxidation. For
chlorine content, scrubber may require high-metal alloy
and/or lining to combat corrosion for some process
equipment or may require pre-treatment
Two Methods of Minimizing Corrosion

• Reheating the gases to above their dew

point

• Choosing construction materials and

design conditions that
Category and Common Methods

• Category
– Non-regenerable
– Regenerable

• Common Methods
– Dry Scrubbing System
– Semi- Dry Scrubbing System
– Wet Scrubbing System
Typical design of an FGD Absorber
 Dry Scrubbing System
• Dry scrubbing system (80% removal)
– Powdered sorbent is pneumatically injected into the
furnace or reaction chamber
– Sorbent is typically Calcium and Sodium based Alkaline
reagents
– The flue gas will then react with the alkaline sorbent to
form solid salt
– Flue gas is generally cooled prior to the entering the PM
control devices
– The solid will be remove by particulate control equipment
such as Bag House or Electrostatic Precipitator or ESP
Dry Scrubbing System
 Semi-Dry Scrubbing System

• Semi-Dry scrubbing system

– Aqueous sorbent slurry is injected similar to a wet
system, however the slurry has a higher concentration
– Calcium and Sodium based Alkaline reagents is also
used
– The flue gas mixes with the slurry solution, water from
the slurry is evaporated
– Water that remains in the solid will enhances the
reaction with SO2
– The process forms a dry waste product which is
collected with standard by particulate control equipment
such as Bag House or Electrostatic Precipitator or ESP
Semi-Dry Scrubbing System
 Wet Scrubbing System

• In wet scrubbing system (greater than 90% removal)

– The polluted gas stream is brought in contact with the
scrubbing liquid by spraying or forcing it to a pool of
liquid or other contact method such that it will remove
pollutants
• Common Types of Wet Scrubbing System
– Spray Tower
– Venturis
– Plate Towers
– Mobile Packed Bed
 Spray Tower

– Usually made from steel or plastic empty

cylindrical shape with nozzle that spray the liquid
into the vessel
– The flue gas enters at the bottom of the tank, then
moves upward, while liquid is sprayed downward
from one or more levels
– The direction of this flow is called counter-current
flow
 Types of Spray Tower Scrubber

Typical Spray Tower

Baffle Spray Tower Cyclonic Spray Tower
– most common
 Venturi Scrubber

Current designs for venturi scrubbers generally use

the vertical down flow of gas through the venturi
throat and incorporate three features:
1. Wet approach or flooded wall- to avoid a dust build
up at a wet-dry junction.
2. Adjustable throat - to provide for adjustment of the
gas velocity and the pressure drop.
3. Flooded - elbow located below the venturi and
ahead of the entrainment separator, to reduce wear
by abrasive particles.
Venturi Scrubber
 Mobile Packed Bed Scrubber
– A packed scrubber consists of a tower with packing
material inside.
– Packed towers typically operate at much lower pressure
drops than venturi scrubbers and are therefore cheaper
to operate.
– They also typically offer higher SO2 removal efficiency.
– The drawback is that they have a greater tendency to
plug up if particles are present in excess in the exhaust
air stream.
Mobile Packed Bed Scrubber
 Scrubbing reagent
Two most important alkaline sorbents
• Lime
– Lime is typically used on large coal or oil fired boilers as
found in power plants
– It is very much less expensive
– It is typically used for spray tower
– By product is calcium sulfite can be oxidized to produce
by-product gypsum (CaSO4 · 2H2O) which is marketable
for use in the building products industry.

• Sodium hydroxide or Caustic soda (NaOH)

– It is limited to smaller combustion units because it is
expensive
– Soluble making it for scale free operation
Gas phase oxidation followed by reaction with
ammonia

• A new, emerging flue gas desulfurization technology

– It is a radiation technology where an intense beam of
electrons is fired into the flue gas at the same time as
ammonia is added to the gas.
– The Chendu power plant in China started up such a
flue gas desulfurization unit on a 100 MW scale in
1998.
– The Pomorzany power plant in Poland also started up
a similar sized unit in 2003 and that plant removes
both sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Both plants are
reported to be operating successfully.
Gas phase oxidation followed by reaction with
ammonia

− No radioactivity is required or created in

the process.
− The electron beam is generated by a
device similar to the electron gun in a TV
set.
− This device is called an accelerator.
 Alternative Methods of Reducing SO2
Emissions

• Removal of sulfur from the fuel before or

during combustion
• Hydrodesulfurization
– Method used for treating fuel oils before
utilization
• Fluidized bed combustion
– adds lime to the fuel during combustion. The
lime reacts with the SO2 to form sulfates
which become part of the ash.
Philippine Setting
CEMS (Sampling)
Sample Video of Spray Tower
 Engr. Jojo Basa

Thank You