Intermountain Power Service Corporation, which operates and maintains a coal fired power facility located 80 miles south of Salt Lake City, UT in Delta, UT purchased a Computrac® MAX® 2000XL in 2006 to assist in the control of their Wet Limestone Flue Gas Desulfurization Scrubbers. In order to minimize sulfur emissions, limestone slurry is used to bind the sulfur dioxide from the flue gas into Calcium Sulfate (synthetic gypsum), that can be easily landfilled. The addition of an antifoam agent is required to reduce the foaming caused by biological matter carried into the scrubber modules by the limestone slurry and makeup water. The addition of the silicon based antifoaming agent in excessive amounts inhibits the oxidation reaction, resulting in a byproduct of Calcium Sulfite. The Calcium Sulfite has a finer crystalline structure which scales piping and equipment, and is extremely difficult to dewater and landfill. To offset this, IPSC added polymer to aid in settling and removal of the scrubber byproducts. The use of the MAX® 2000XL has allowed IPSC to control the usage of defoamer, by providing a means to quantify how much is too much. This in turn has decreased the amount of polymer being used. The statistics of actual dollars being saved is as follows:
In 2005, IPSC used $329,000.00 in defoamer, whereas in mid-2006, when the company began testing the MAX® 2000XL, the reduction in chemical usage dropped to $252,000.00. In 2007, after a full year of using the MAX® 2000XL, the chemical usage dropped to $88,000.00.®In addition to the MAX® 2000XL saving a significant amount of money on the front end, the
company was also able to utilize the MAX® 2000XL data to control waste solids and reduce polymer usage. The polymer expenses were $110,000 in 2005, $127,000.00 in 2006, and $15,000.00 in 2007.
Ask Stephanie a question-Stephanie Blaha, National Account Representative
