Special Report. Coal Plant OM: To optimize performance, begin at the pulverizers

Optimizing combustion in pulverized coal (PC) fired boilers today is more important today than ever. It is well known that the average American PC plant is over 30 years old and that over its lifetime NOx and SO2 emissions limits have been steadily ratcheted down. Today, operators no longer wonder whether permissible levels will continue to fall but, rather, when and by how much. The newest fork in coal-fired generation's path forward is determining how to capture plant emissions of carbon dioxide when the gas is regulated as a pollutant. Some advocate widespread installations of unproven integrated gasification combined cycle technology ASAP, to prepare it as a long-term solution. Others say building fleets of super-efficient supercritical and ultrasupercritical-pressure and temperature plants would be a timelier, more prudent, and more cost-effective alternative. But while regulators, Congress, and the courts wrestle with the question of what to do about greenhouse gases, one thing remains clear: CO2 emissions could be lowered considerably by raising the efficiency of the existing US fleet of 1,100+ coal plants.