Mercury testing in Alabama
14 Dec 2000
Alabama Power has been selected by the US Department of Energy to participate in a programme to test advanced mercury control technologies.
The company, a subsidiary of Southern Company, will install and test a mercury control process at its Gaston generation plant near Wilsonville, Alabama. As part of the process, carbon will be injected into an existing ash collection system already installed on the plant site. The carbon will absorb the mercury, which could result in substantial emissions reduction.
The system to be used by the Gaston plant is a transportable mercury control technology developed by ADA-Environmental Solutions, a subsidiary of Earth Sciences, Inc., based in Colorado.
According to the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory, which is spearheading the project, the goal is to develop a cost-effective technology that will allow the electric utility industry to reduce mercury emissions from power plants by up to 70 percent of current levels.
Alabama Power and Southern Company will work with ADA-ES, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Hamon Research Cottrell and two other electric generating companies on the project. The $6.7 million project includes three other generating units located in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The DOE will fund 70 percent of the project costs with Alabama Power and the other participating companies co-funding the remaining 30 percent.
Testing at Alabama Power's Gaston plant will begin the first quarter of 2001.
