The Mega Meeting: Power Plant Air Pollutant Control Symposium

The fifth “Mega” Symposium on air pollutant controls for power plants, co-sponsored by EPRI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), along with the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) again covered SO2, NOx, particulate, mercury and air toxic emissions. This multi-pollutant conference continued the Mega Symposium tradition of highlighting the latest development and operational experience with state-ofthe-art methods for reducing air emissions from fossilfuelled boilers. Approximately 800 delegates attended the technical sessions and there was an accompanying trade show. From the sessions it was apparent that 3 different technologies based on gold are being developed for control of mercury emissions from coal fired power stations. Presence of mercury has been linked to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and autism, and in the future strict limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired boilers in the utility industry are expected. It appears that gold is seriously being considered for mercury emission control primarily due to its unrivalled mercury adsorption properties, although its role as a mercury oxidation catalyst is also highlighted.