Coal-fired power plants are the largest point-sources of criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gasses, and industrial wastewater in the United States. My work in this area looks at developing tools to predict the partitioning of trace metals (e.g., mercury, arsenic, lead, selenium) at coal generators and evaluating technologies to treat wastewater discharges.
Developing Predictive Trace Element Partitioning Models
Coal is a complex fuel, and its combustion leads to formation of conventional air pollutants (e.g., SO2, NOx, and particulate matter), CO2, and hazardous vapors consisting of various trace metals. As these combustion gasses move through installed air pollution control devices, significant fractions are removed and end up in the ash and wastewater produced in these processes. This thrust of this work focuses on developing open-source tools that are capable of predicting the fate of these trace metals across the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet.
Papers Published
Gingerich, D.B.; Zhao, Y.; Mauter, M.S. Environmentally significant shifts in trace element emissions from coal plants complying with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, Energy Policy, 2019, 132, 1206-1215. Journal Link, DoE OSTI Open Access Version
Sun, X.; Gingerich, D.B.; Azevedo, I.L.; Mauter, M.S. Trace element mass flow rates from U.S. coal fired power plants, Environmental Science & Technology, 2019, 53(10), 5585-5595. Journal Link, DoE OSTI Open Access Version
Evaluating Emerging Technologies for Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater Treatment
In 2015, the EPA finalized the Effluent Limitation Guideliens and Standards for the Steam Electric Generating Sector, the first rule in more than three decades to regulate the discharge of wastewater from coal-fired power plants including wastewater produced in the flue gas desulfurization process. Complying with this rule will require utilities to install new technologies to treat the flue gas desulfurization wastewater. The thrust of this work looks at developing tools to evaluate the cost and environmental impact of some of the processes utilities can choose from.
Papers Published
Gingerich, D.B.; Grol, E.; Mauter, M.S. Fundamental Challenges and Engineering Opportunities in Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater Treatment at Coal Fired Power Plants, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 2018, 4(7), 909-925. Journal Link, DoE OSTI Open Access Version
Gingerich, D.B.; Bartholomew, T.V.; Mauter, M.S. Technoeconomic Optimization of Emerging Technologies for Regulatory Analysis, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2018, 6(2), 2370-2378. Journal Link
Gingerich, D.B.; Sun, X.; Behrer, A.P.; Azevedo, I.M.L.; Mauter, M.S., Spatially resolved air-water emissions tradeoffs improve regulatory impact analyses for electricity generation, Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 2017, 114(8), 1862-1867. Journal Link
Assessing the Feasibility of Power Plant Recovery and Use
Thermal power generators are inefficient at converting the thermal energy in their fuel sources into electricity, with most plants achieving efficiencies in the ranges of 30-45%. The remainder of this energy ends up in the environment and a large fraction of that energy can be recovered from cooling water or exhaust gasses. The thrust of this work at evaluating the spatio-temporal availability of this waste heat and how we may use it for wastewater treatment or carbon capture.
Papers Published
Gingerich, D.B.; Mauter, M.S., Retrofitting the Regulated Power Plant: Optimizing Energy Allocation to Electricity Generation, Water Treatment, and Carbon Capture Processes at Coal-Fired Generating Facilities, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2018, 6(2), 2694-2703. Journal Link
Zhou, X.; Gingerich, D.B.; Mauter, M.S., Process Modeling of Forward Osmosis Systems Using Waste Heat from Electric Power Generation, Industrial & Chemical Engineering Research, 2015, 54(24), 6378-6389. Journal Link, DoE OSTI Open Access Version
Gingerich, D.B.; Mauter, M.S., Quantity, Quality, and Availability of Residual Heat from the US Power Sector, Environmental Science & Technology, 2015, 49(14), 8297-8306. Journal Link