Lime Usage Reduction at the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility

摘要

Waste to Energy facilities in the U.S. collectively spend over $20 million per year on lime for flue gas treatment. Individually, most plants spend between $300,000 and $1 million per year on lime. This expense is often the plant's largest for a consumable material and is expected to increase as emission limits become more stringent. American Ref-Fuel's Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility is a 3300 ton per day waste to energy plant located near Philadelphia, PA. The plant is equipped with dry scrubber type flue gas treatment technology using slaked quicklime as the primary reagent. This facility is typical of many waste to energy plants using dry scrubber systems as shown in Fig. 1. Recent research and practical experience has shown that lime usage in dry scrubbers can be significantly reduced by optimization of flue gas treatment processes. In addition to reduced lime consumption, other financial and operational benefits may include reduced corrosion in downstream components, greater safety and system dependability. This paper describes a theory of scrubber performance optimization and successful application of that theory to reduce lime usage and achieve other benefits at the Delaware Valley Facility.