Power plant upgrade to reduce emissions

by Steve Hinnefeld
(812) 331-4374
shinnefeld@heraldt.com
Bloomington Herald Times
June 3, 2007

It’s long been a blessing and a curse for Indiana University to be located near the coal fields of southwestern Indiana. The proximity makes it possible to heat the Bloomington campus at low cost. But coal burns dirty, and IU’s Central Heating Plant produces air pollution as well as steam heat.

Now the university is undertaking a $34 million project to significantly cut down on pollutants coming out of the plant’s stacks.

“It will be a huge upgrade — and a real change in our emissions,” said Mark Menefee, assistant director of utilities with the IU Physical Plant.

The project will begin this fall with the installation of a high-efficiency, gas-fired boiler. The device, 45 feet long and 18 feet tall, will replace two coal-fired boilers dating from the mid-1950s. And a bigger change will come next year with the second phase, which includes installing large fabric filters, called baghouses, to remove soot produced by two coal-fired boilers that will remain part of the plant.

“We’re expecting, at minimum, a reduction of about 68 percent,” Menefee said.

The second phase also includes adding devices to inject lime and activated carbon into stack gases from the coal-fired boilers, Menefee said. The lime is expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 45 percent, about 600 tons per year. The carbon will eliminate about half the toxic mercury emissions.

Menefee said the project will bring the campus into compliance with federal Clean Air Act rules called MACT, for Maximum Achievable Control Technology. They take effect this fall, but universities were allowed a one-year extension, to September 2008.

At a time of concern about climate change, the upgrade won’t reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas implicated in global warming. Menefee said the only practical way to reduce carbon dioxide from a coal-burning plant is to consume less energy and burn less coal.

Heating history

The Central Heating Plant, built in 1955 on Walnut Grove Avenue, an area that was then well north of campus, initially included two coal-fired boilers. As the campus grew, it added two more boilers in 1960, a fifth in 1965 and a sixth in 1970. In the 1990s, two were converted to allow the use of less polluting natural gas.

What goes in, and out

It burns 68,000 tons of Indiana coal and 3.4 million therms of gas a year, heating water to provide steam heat for 110 buildings with more than 12 million square feet of space.

And it produces tons of ash, which is trucked back to the coal fields by Peabody Coal Co. and used in reclaiming the company’s surface mines.

In 2005, its air emissions included:

1,331 tons of sulfur dioxide.
385 tons of nitrogen oxides.
76 tons of fine particulate matter, or soot.
Almost two tons of volatile organic compounds.

High levels of the pollutants can cause respiratory problems, especially for people with asthma or lung conditions. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain, which can cause health problems and damage plant life. And toxic mercury is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant; health officials advise against eating too much fish from Indiana lakes, rivers and streams, because they contain mercury.

Coal: costs and savings

Janet McCabe, executive director of Indiana Kids Environment, a group that advocates for reducing pollution, said coal combustion is the biggest source of environmental mercury in the state.

She said it’s “really good” that IU will make significant reductions in its emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter significantly. But she added that universities should lead the way in aggressive energy conservation.

“That saves money in the long run,” she said. “They don’t buy as much coal, and it reduces pollution.”

IU officials have known for years they would need to spend money to reduce pollution and meet the federal MACT standards, but the money wasn’t there. Then, two years ago, the state Legislature provided the funding but demanded IU explore outsourcing the heating operation. Officials studied the idea and concluded IU could provide the service at no more cost than the private sector.

It rejected the idea of moving the heating plant off campus as too expensive. And for the same reason, it opted not to switch entirely from coal to natural gas — a move that could increase fuel costs by $12 million to $15 million a year, Menefee said.

“There’s a huge economic motivation to continue to burn coal,” he said.

He said the gas-fired boiler that arrives this fall should be in operation by December, providing enough capacity for IU to temporarily take the coal-burners out of service and install pollution-control equipment, starting next spring. The equipment should keep IU in line with regulations that are likely in the foreseeable future, he said.

Heating Plant History

1885: First heating plant is built on campus east of Wylie Hall.
1897: Second plant is built near Chemistry Building location.
1905: Third plant is built near what’s now the east end of the Indiana Memorial Union. It burns down in 1929 and is replaced at the same site in 1935.
1955: Current Central Heating Plant, with two coal-fired boilers, is built on Walnut Grove Avenue.
1960: Boilers three and four are added. Boiler five is added in 1965 and boiler six in 1970.
1990: Boiler five is converted to burn natural gas as well as coal. Burner six is converted to burn gas or coal in 1995.

Source: IU Physical Plant.

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