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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
New Technology Lowers Mercury Emissions by 90 Percent
While EPA continues to argue that a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions at coal-fired power plants would be infeasible, a Kansas coal-fired power plant successfully lowered mercury emissions by 90 percent, according to the emissions control maker, ADA-ES. The company announced Nov. 18 that a month-long test of activated carbon injection at Sunflower Electric Holcomb Station successfully lowered mercury emissions of Western coal. In previous tests, technology was only able to lower mercury emissions of Western coal by at most 50 percent, while technology has lowered emissions at Eastern coal plants by levels as high as 90 percent. Before the use of activated carbon injection technology, the Kansas facility had achieved reductions of 0 percent to 20 percent, using other methods. The EPA proposal for mercury reduction has focused on cap-and-trade methods, that would have allowed Western coal-burning facilities to buy emissions credits rather than meet higher emission reduction standards that were thought to be unattainable. Now that the technology is feasible, EPA's market-based approach is even more difficult to justify.
Read more about EPA's proposed rule and mercury emissions.
Posted by Genevieve Smith
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