COST-EFFECTIVE CONTROL OF NOx WITH INTEGRATED ULTRA LOW-NOx BURNERS AND SNCR

Under sponsorship of the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), McDermott Technology, Inc. (MTI), the Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W), and Fuel Tech teamed together to investigate an integrated solution for NOx control. The system was comprised of B&W's DRB-4Z{trademark} low-NO{sub x} pulverized coal (PC) burner technology and Fuel Tech's NO{sub x}OUT{reg_sign}, a urea-based selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) technology. The technology's emission target is achieving 0.15 lb NO{sub x}/10{sup 6} Btu for full-scale boilers. Development of the low-NOx burner technology has been a focus in B&W's combustion program. The DRB-4Z{trademark} burner (see Figure 1.1) is B&W's newest low-NO{sub x} burner capable of achieving very low NO{sub x}. The burner is designed to reduce NO{sub x} by diverting air away from the core of the flame, which reduces local stoichiometry during coal devolatilization and, thereby, reduces initial NO{sub x} formation. Figure 1.2 shows the historical NO{sub x} emission levels from different B&W burners. Figure 1.2 shows that based on three large-scale commercial installations of the DRB-4Z{trademark} burners in combination with OFA ports, using Western subbituminous coal, the NO{sub x} emissions ranged from 0.16 to 0.18 lb/10{sup 6} Btu. It appears that with continuing research and development the Ozone Transport Rule (OTR) emission level of 0.15 lb NO{sub x}/10{sup 6} Btu is within the reach of combustion modification techniques for boilers using western U.S. subbituminous coals. Although NO{sub x} emissions from the DRB-4Z{trademark} burner are nearing OTR emission level with subbituminous coals, the utility boiler owners that use bituminous coals can still benefit from the addition of an SNCR and/or SCR system in order to comply with the stringent NO{sub x} emission levels facing them