Carmeuse Limestone Reactivity Testing Using the EPRI B7 and Other Limestone Reactivity Testing Methods

摘要

Carmeuse Lime and Stone studied four limestone reactivity testing methods using thirteen different limestones currently marketed for flue gas desulfurization. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) B71 method was used as a benchmark to which the three other methods were compared. The three other methods included one from Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.2, a Carmeuse modification of the Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. method, and one scrubber manufacturer's limestone screening method.The EPRI B7 method is time-consuming and requires significant man-hours to perform. It may not be the most economical or efficient method for quality control or comparison testing of different limestones. Three shorter, less labor intensive methods were studied as possible alternatives to the EPRI B7 method. Each method produced a ranking of the limestones by reactivity and a correlation to the three shorter methods' rankings to the hierarchy produced by the EPRI B7 method was attempted.The specified test conditions of each method greatly influenced the measured limestone reactivity. Although similarities were found in the reactivity hierarchies, in only one case was data produced that one method's results could be used to confidently predict performance of another method. Only two methods that measured limestone to 100% dissolution showed a correlation between the reactivity hierarchy and the initial chemical properties of the limestone.