Abstract
Since the beginning of the 1990s, due to international regulations on air quality, a large number of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) installations have been constructed in the Polish coal-fired power industry. Thanks to that, SO2 capture in this industry increased to ca. 90%. Since wet lime or fluidized bed boilers were mostly used for FGD purposes, a significant increase in the domestic demand for lime sorbents has been reported. Between 1994 and 2019, it has increased from virtually zero before 1994 to about 3.3–3.4 million tpy (tonnes per year) today. On the basis of official governmental data and completed surveys of the Polish power companies, the paper analyses the process of the implementation of FGD in Poland along with limestone sorbents consumption and FGD gypsum production in the Polish coal-fired power plants. It also presents the current and potential limestone resource base for production of limestone sorbents applied in FGD. Electric energy mix in Poland is expected to be changed radically in the coming 30 years. Share of coal-based electricity is still very high—ca. 80%—and it will remain dominant for at least next decade. With the next coming FGD installations, further moderate increase of limestone sorbents consumption is expected, up to 3.7 million tpy in 2030. After 2030, a significant, quick decrease of share of coal-fired electricity is expected in Poland, down to max. 30% just before 2050. This will result in a gradual decrease in limestone sorbent demand, to max. 1.3 million tpy before 2050 and virtually zero after 2050, which will be followed by collapse of FGD gypsum production.
Highlights
Global climate warming and pollution-related effects on human health have placed air pollution at the heart of EU policy decision-making [1]
Quantity of limestone consumption and flue gas desulphurisation (FGD)-gypsum production for power industry companies, which did not respond to the survey, were deduced from their actual energy production and known parameters of their FGD installations, as well as their prior available data on sorbent consumption
Methods of Desulphurisation Used in the Polish Power Plants and Central Heating Plants and the Main Sorbents Applied
Summary
Global climate warming and pollution-related effects on human health have placed air pollution at the heart of EU policy decision-making [1]. From a global perspective, coal will remain one of the main sources of energy for a long time [2], the European Union have implemented strict regulations to improve air quality, including—or even especially—in the Eastern European countries admitted to the EU in 2004 and 2007. Framework Directive [4] and its daughter directives, e.g., setting limit values and alert thresholds for major pollutants. The first such daughter directive [5] established limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and particulates.
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