The ICSC are working on an exciting US Department of State project targeting emissions of mercury in Southeast Asia. The project is focused on knowledge sharing and capacity building in India and Indonesia, targeting emissions from the coal combustion sector. Stakeholders in the region will be empowered to identify regionally appropriate means to reduce mercury emissions.
India
For India, the project concentrates on knowledge sharing and capacity building, focusing on three important “pillars” of work:
Pillar 1: Monitoring emissions. With new emission limits for particulates (PM), SO2, NOx and mercury becoming applicable across the coal fleet, large utilities in India must now install continuous emission monitoring (CEM) systems to measure and report emissions in real-time. The figures below show the installation rate for CEM for PM, SO2 and NOx as of December 2021. Currently, only around 50% of the fleet have CEM systems installed and up to 10% of these units are reporting issues with being able to submit valid data to the relevant regulatory agencies.
Significant challenges remain with respect to the calibration and reliability of these systems. Without appropriate training, there is a risk that emission data reporting will be inadequate and not sufficiently reliable to ensure that emission limits are met, and air quality goals are achieved. The desk report for this pillar of work has been completed and is available as a free download here.
The ICSC is now working with Indian stakeholders to design and deliver four regional training courses on CEM systems before the end of 2023.
Pillar 2: Reducing emissions and improving ash management. This pillar comprises two parts:
– evaluation of the status of installation of control technologies for PM, SO2 and NOx and how coal-fired power plants can maximise the potential for co-benefit mercury reduction.
– evaluation of the status of ash management and use. This section of work will determine options to reduce ash waste in ponds whilst enhancing ash use in both construction materials and high value end products.
The desk reports from Pillar 2 will be available in the first half of 2022. Regional training in India will follow.
Pillar 3: Flexibility in operating coal plants. This pillar builds upon a previous project between the USDOE, USAID, EPRI and NTPC in India which developed a toolkit to maximise the flexibility of coal-fired power plants. The current project has identified the potential for the flexibility toolkit in India and has designed a programme to deliver hands-on training. The desk report, including a description of the training material, is available as a free download here.
The ICSC is now working with Indian stakeholders to design and deliver four regional training courses on CEM systems.
Indonesia
For Indonesia, we are evaluating mercury emissions from the coal sector by ranking coal-fired power plants to identify those that will benefit the most from mercury reduction strategies.
Phase 1 of work evaluated mercury emissions from every coal-fired utility unit >100 MW in Indonesia on a unit-by-unit basis. From this it has become evident that fewer than 15 units out of over 100 are responsible for around 50% of the total mercury emissions from the whole sector.
The figure above shows the estimated mercury emissions from the highest emitters in the Indonesian coal fleet. These data assume that plants will operate at the same rate and efficiency as they did in 2019/2020 until they close at 40 years old.
The data are now being used to inform stakeholders (government, regulators, and utilities) on cost-effective strategies for emission reduction across the fleet.
The report from Phase 1 is available as a free download here.
Phase 2 is proceeding, focussing on developing a “catalogue” of options for mercury reduction at typical Indonesian coal plants. This Phase will include site visits to three plants in Indonesia which have been selected according to their emissions and because they represent the most common plant configurations which currently exist in Indonesia. Phase 2 will include a call for proposals from technology providers for potential full-scale mercury reduction projects. Phase 3 will then follow, evaluating the potential for funding and collaboration which could lead to the movement of these project proposals through to realisation.
(January 2022)
The ICSC runs an extensive outreach programme, to deliver the key messages from our studies on all aspects of coal production, transport and utilisation; to inform the debate on the cleaner use of coal; and to encourage the take up of improved technologies – particularly in developing economies.
The ICSC collaborates with and supports a range of organisations such as UN Economic Commission for Europe, UN Environment, USAID, the Asian Development Bank, the IEA and other Technology Collaboration Programmes, APEC and VGB.
During 2019-20, the outreach programme included running two ICSC workshops, in Vietnam and Japan, as well as our major Clean Coal Technologies Conference in Houston, USA, participating in other organisations’ conferences and associated events, as well as taking part in a wide range of topical meetings with international stakeholders.
