Alstom receives affirmation of its mercury emissions technology patent from USPTO

Alstom s Mer-Cure^TM patent for mercury emissions technology has been reaffirmed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at the conclusion of an ex parte reexamination process.

Within the last two months, Alstom announced that it has received five orders for its patented Mer-Cure^TM technology which will be implemented at 16 utility coal-fired generating units across North America. Alstom will be working with customers and third party system suppliers to integrate its Mer-Cure^TM technology to ensure that the design provides the most effective mercury removal and the most efficient cost of operation possible.

This patent affirms the strength of our technology, said Feilim Coyle, Vice President of Alstom Thermal Services for North America. We look forward to implementing this technology to help our customers achieve the lowest cost of operation by reducing sorbent consumption and meet Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) compliance by 2016.

 Alstoms Mer-Cure^TM mercury reduction technology, originally patented by Alstom in 2011, involves the injection of powdered activated carbon (PAC) into a plants flue gas at a high temperature region upstream of the air preheater.  Injecting PAC upstream of the air preheater can enhance mercury capture by up to 50% due to the higher temperature window, longer residence time and the larger temperature differential across the air preheater. Since it was first introduced by Alstom, injecting PAC prior to the air preheater has become the industrys preferred method for reducing mercury emissions in coal-fired units with ESPs.

For plants with existing systems that inject after the air preheater, Alstom provides a retrofit kit to allow PAC injection before the air preheater to reduce sorbent consumption and its associated costs.

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