NEWS RELEASE                                                                                        MARCH 2014

Power Plants Will Spend $400 Million for Dry Scrubber Systems This Year

Power plants still prefer wet limestone scrubber systems as a way to capture the SO2 emissions. However, more than 10 percent of the purchases will be for dry systems this year. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in FGD Market and Strategies.

($ Millions)     

  

Subject

  
  

2014

  

 Total

 3,805  

 Dry Lime

 323  

 Other

 108  

 Wet Calcium

 3,374  

The bulk of the dry purchases will be for lime based systems, but some will be for sodium based sorbents. There will be a significant number of purchases of dry injection systems which do not use a reaction chamber but merely inject the sorbent into the ductwork. Since the capital investment of this approach is low, the capacity which will be served by this technology is far greater than the capital revenue share. On the other hand, these systems will require much larger expenditures for sorbent each year than their wet counterparts.

Much of the dry duct injection expenditure will be in the U.S. The new air toxic regulations on one hand and the resistance toward building new coal-fired power plants has created a unique situation. The power plants are in a situation where a high operating cost but low capital cost approach is attractive.   Some of the greatest beneficiaries will be the lime companies. Instead of selling limestone at $20/ton they are selling lime at $200//ton.

For more information on FGD Market and Strategies, click on:http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/107-n027