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Recent regulations have required reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from electric utility boilers. To comply with these regulatory requirements, it is increasingly important to implement state-of-the-art NOx control technologies on coal-fired utility boilers. This paper reviews NOx control options for these boilers. It discusses the established commercial primary and secondary control technologies and examines what is being done to use them more effectively. Furthermore, the paper discusses recent developments in NOx controls. The popular primary control technologies in use in the United States are low-NOx burners and overfire air. Data reflect that average NOx reductions for specific primary controls have ranged from 35% to 63% from 1995 emissions levels. The secondary NOx control technologies applied on U.S. coal-fired utility boilers include reburning, selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR), and selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Thirty-six U.S. coal-fired utility boilers have installed SNCR, and reported NOx reductions achieved at these applications ranged from 15% to 66%. Recently, SCR has been installed at >150 U.S. coal-fired utility boilers. Data on the performance of 20 SCR systems operating in the United States with low-NOx emissions reflect that in 2003, these units achieved NOx emission rates between 0.04 and 0.07 lb/106 Btu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology increasingly is being applied for controlling emissions of nitro-gen oxides (NOx) from coal-fired boilers. Some recent field and pilot studies suggest that the operation of SCR could affect the chemical form of mercury (Hg) in coal combustion flue gases. The speciation of Hg is an important factor influencing the control and environmental fate of Hg emissions from coal combustion. The vanadium and titanium oxides, used commonly in the vanadia-titania SCR catalyst for catalytic NOx reduction, promote the formation of oxidized mercury (Hg 2+). The work reported in this paper focuses on the impact of SCR on elemental mercury (Hg0) oxidation. Bench-scale experiments were conducted to investigate Hg0 oxidation in the presence of simulated coal combustion flue gases and under SCR reaction conditions. Flue gas mixtures with different concentrations of hydrogen chloride (HCl) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) for simulating the combustion of bituminous coals and subbituminous coals were tested in these experiments. The effects of HCl and SO2 in the flue gases on Hg0 oxidation under SCR reaction conditions were studied. It was observed that HCl is the most critical flue gas component that causes conversion of Hg0 to Hg2+ under SCR reaction conditions. The importance of HCl for Hg0 oxidation found in the present study provides the scientific basis for the apparent coal-type dependence observed for Hg0 oxidation occurring across the SCR reactors in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]