Detroit Edison Continues NOx Reduction Project at Motor City Coal-Fired Power Plant in 2005

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Detroit Edison Company (NYSE:DTE) (Detroit, Michigan) is planning to restart construction on a NOx reduction project for Unit #3 at the Monroe Power Station (Monroe, Michigan), as part of a plant-wide NOx reduction program. Minor construction had started in 2002 to install a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) unit, but was stopped a few months later as the company decided to concentrate on completing the retrofit of Unit #4, which has now been completed. Detroit Edison has scheduled a resumption of resume construction for Unit #3 in the Fall 2005.

The 33-year-old electric generating plant is approximately forty-miles south of Detroit, and consists of four Babcock & Wilcox supercritical opposed-fired dry bottom boilers, with two Siemens Westinghouse turbine generator sets, and two General Electric ones. All four units came on line between 1971 and 1974. Units #1 and #4 have already been installed with SCRs, and Unit #2 is tentatively scheduled for 2009.

President George W. Bush had paid an unexpected visit to the 3,292-megawatt plant in mid-September 2003 during campaigning, to tour the plant and discussed energy, clean air, and the environment as part of the Clean Air Act. Reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) is a crucial component to cleaner air. Nitrogen oxides are a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and emissions from automobiles and power plants. The SCR technology has proven to be the most effective, reducing as much as ninety-percent of NOx removal. The process works by injecting ammonia into the boiler flue gas and passing it through a catalyst bed where the NOx and ammonia react to form nitrogen and water vapor.

Washington Group International (Boise, Idaho) was selected as the primary contractor, to provide engineering and construction services. The $135-million project is scheduled for tie-ins and completion in late 2006.

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