NEWS RELEASE MAY 2012
U.S. Industrial Air Emitters to Spend $1 Billion/yr for Air Pollution Control Over the Next Five Years on More Than 2000 Specific Projects
Operators of industrial boilers, kilns, pulp mills, mines and incinerators are facing huge investments to meet recently passed national regulations and imminent additional regulations by the individual states. The expenditure will exceed $1 billion/yr over the next five years as thousands of projects ranging from $100,000 to $25 million will be undertaken. These projects are identified in the McIlvaine report, U.S. Industrial Emitters. This database covers over 40,000 industrial sources in the U.S.
Three major national rules have been promulgated. They deal with air toxics and affect the cement industry, operators of industrial and commercial boilers, and operators of solid and liquid waste incinerators. There will be extensive investment in fabric filters to capture the toxic metals. In many cases, activated carbon or other chemicals will be needed to capture mercury. Removal of hydrogen chloride will also be necessary and will generate markets for wet scrubbers. Organics such as the kerogens in limestone used in the cement industry also generate organic toxics and will create a market for thermal treatment technologies.
Several thousand plants will be installing new air pollution control systems but nearly 6,000 plants will be making investments in monitoring and control of process and combustion operations. Mercury and PM mass monitors are very expensive but will only be required for 1000 plants. However monitors for CO and O2 will be required at many plants.
It is likely that rules will be promulgated by individual states which will force the addition of NOx, SOx and particulate matter (PM) reduction equipment. This is in addition to that required by the national standards. The states are required to take whatever actions are necessary to bring the ambient air quality to a level specified in federal regulations already promulgated. It will be more cost effective and politically acceptable to require larger industrial facilities to cut their emissions by fifty percent than it will be to impose limitations on lawn mowers, grills and the like.
Even though many areas are in attainment with ambient standards, they are upwind of areas which are in non-attainment. These attainment areas will be subject to lawsuits by the downwind areas. The end result is that equipment will be required at many locations and not just within the non-attainment areas.
The discovery of large quantities of shale gas and the resultant low price of natural gas will ensure the stability and even modest growth in the U.S. industrial base. As a result, the vast majority of plants will make the necessary expenditures to remain in business.
For more information on U.S. Industrial Emitters, click on:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_content&;view=article&id=93extsup1.asp
