Gypsum industry news

India: GE Power India has won three wet flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) projects. A contract worth US$335m covers the supply and installation of FGD systems at two NTPC coal power plants, the Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station and the Sipat Super Thermal Power Station, and one Aravali Power Company plant, IGSTPP Jhajjar.

GE’s scope includes design, engineering, civil work, supply, erection and commissioning of Wet FGD systems along with auxiliaries, including limestone and gypsum handling systems and wet stack on full turnkey basis. In addition, GE’s scope for IGSTPP Jhajjar also includes 10 years of operation and maintenance including the supply of spare parts.

With these three wet FGD projects together, GE will help NTPC to treat 35Mm³/hr of flue gas and will remove up to 0.11Mt/yr of SO₂, which will be converted into gypsum by-product for use in the construction industry.

India: Larsen & Toubro has signed a long-term technical licence agreement with Japan's Chiyoda Corporation for its Chiyoda Thoroughbred 121TM (CT-121TM) flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology. The agreement grants L&T exclusive rights to undertake engineering, procurement and construction with this system.

The deal follows a notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued in December 2015 that placed new limits on SO2 emissions for coal-based thermal power plants. The legislation has called for mandatory installation of FGD systems in new power plants, including those currently under construction and many that are already operational.

In the CT-121TM FGD process developed by Chiyoda SO2 is absorbed from flue gas generated by coal-fired, oil-fired and other types of boilers and removed as gypsum. Unlike conventional processes in which the reagent slurry is sprayed on flue gas, the CT-121TM process uses Chiyodas unique absorber, the Jet Bubbling Reactor, in which the flue gas is blown into the reagent slurry, forming a fine bubble bed where SO2 is absorbed, oxidised by injected air, and then neutralised by ground limestone slurry.

Larsen & Toubro and Chiyoda's relationship dates back over two decades with L&T-Chiyoda Limited, a joint-venture catering to the hydrocarbon sector. Through the signing of this agreement, the two companies have extended their association into the power sector as well.

Poland: Finland's Valmet has signed a contract with CIECH Soda Polska for the supply of a flue gas desulphurization plant (FGD) to Soda Polska's Janikowo combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Poland. This is the second order of a FGD plant from CIECH Soda Polska. In August 2015, Valmet signed a contract for a similar plant for the Inowroclaw CHP plant including a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) plant. The value of the order is around Euro20m.

"This investment will extend the lifetime of the Janikowo CHP plant and help us in complying with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) by decreasing our SO2 and dust emissions," said Marcin Malek, Director of Investments at CIECH Soda Polska.

The Janikowo CHP plant provides energy to the Janikowo Chemical Plant, owned by the Polish CIECH group. The CHP plant is in the national transition plan in Poland for compliance with the IED and will have to comply with tight annual emission ceilings for SO2, NOx and dust starting in 2017.

Valmet's delivery includes a wet limestone based flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant to remove SO2 from the flue gases of two existing coal fired steam boilers, each with 140t/hr steam capacity. The FGD is planned to be in commercial operation in September 2017.

US: Progress on two new flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) projects in Colorado and Indiana have been announced. Neumann Systems Group has completed 60% of its US$73.5m contract to install an emissions scrubbing system at the Martin Drake Power Plant in Colorado and the first stage of the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation's US$670m pollution-control project at the Clifty Creek plant in Indiana is now operational. Both of these projects will increase the supply of FGD gypsum in the US.

Neumann Systems Group has a 2011 contract worth US$121m to design, build and install an emission-scrubbing system on two of the Martin Drake Power Plant's three power production units. The NeuStream system is designed to remove more than 95% of the sulphur dioxide from the emissions of the two units, as required by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that take effect in 2017, and convert it to gypsum that can be sold for fertiliser and building materials.

At the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation's Clifty Creek Power plant in Indiana, plant officials announced that one of its two new flue gas desulphurisation scrubbers has begun feeding exhaust gas to produce cleaner emissions. These scrubbers will remove up to 98% of sulphur dioxide emissions creating synthetic gypsum. The Clifty Creek plant has six 217MW units that will feed to two scrubbers. The second scrubber is scheduled to begin operations in May 2013. The project began in 2007 but was postponed from 2009 to 2011 due to the economic downturn.

US: From the start of 2013 Progress Energy Florida has contracted to sell its entire output of synthetic gypsum produced at its Crystal River Energy Complex in Florida to United States Gypsum (USG).

Crystal River 4 and Crystal River 5, the two newest coat burners at the energy complex, produce 450,000t/yr of synthetic gypsum. Scrubbers were added to Crystal River plants 4 and 5 in 2009 and early 2010. Currently the byproduct is sold for use in making wallboard, cement and fertiliser.

A conveyor belt will be constructed to move the material from the Crystal River power complex to USG's adjacent property. USG purchased the 72ha site in 2011. It announced at the time it would be a storage facility to warehouse synthetic gypsum from the power plants.

Spokesman Scott Sutton from Duke Energy, owner of Progress Energy, emphasised that contract is for USG to take the synthetic gypsum to their property and store it until they ship it or use it. "One customer will remove it all; if we produce more they will have to take it and we have to produce a certain amount. It is a good deal for both of us."

"It is still pretty early in the process yet," said USG spokesman Bob Williams, referring to the plans for the Crystal River property. "It has gone beyond the design stage but construction has not started yet. It is not expected to be complete until sometime in 2013." He added that Crystal River will only be a transfer site and USG has no near-term plans to build a manufacturing plant at the site.

Germany: Scientists have observed tailor-made specialist micro-organisms directly 'feeding' on CO2-containing flue gases from lignite-fired power stations, in what is being described as a 'very promising' initial result of a research project run by RWE Power and Brain AG. The research may have interesting implications for the gypsum industry, which already uses desulphurised flue gas.

The joint project, which has been running since January 2010, aims to convert CO2 into biomass or directly into secondary raw materials with the help of micro-organisms bred to explore innovative CO2 conversion and synthesis pathways. The ultimate aims of the project are to produce industrially-usable products. These are likely to include insulation and construction materials.

"Our pioneering work in the search for biotechnological CO2 conversion solutions bears first fruit," said Dr Johannes Heithoff, head of research and development at RWE Power. "We continue to lead the efforts to protect the climate."

The work is being carried out at the Coal Innovation Centre located at the Niederaussem power plant, which hopes to produce scaleable solutions to reducing emissions from coal-fired power stations. If such solutions can be found, the gypsum industry may find that desulphurisation of flue-gas moves into competition with the production of insulation materials or other chemicals.