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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (July 25, 2005) - Southern Research Institute today announced that it has been awarded the contract to operate the Mercury Research Center (MRC) now being constructed by Gulf Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. The $5 million center will be located at Gulf Power's Plant Crist generation station, located near Pensacola, Florida.
Southern Research - an independent contract research organization - was selected to operate the MRC which should be in full operation by November 2005. Research projects will begin in early 2006. Southern Research also operates the Greenhouse Gas Technology Verification Center based in Research Triangle Park, NC.
"The production of affordable energy in an environmentally sound manner is a national priority. In fact, there are very few products or services that compare to the effect energy production has on the economy and the U.S. standard of living," said Scott Hinton, Ph.D., Southern Research's technical program manager. "The MRC will be a high-profile research laboratory, supporting national efforts to reduce pollution from fossil-energy production. This is an exciting opportunity for Southern Research and will provide a high-profile platform for us to help contribute to resolving many pressing environmental issues."
In December 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a suite of integrated air actions to significantly reduce current levels of power plant emissions. The Agency's first ever proposed rule to regulate mercury emissions would cut by 70 percent the estimated 48 tons of mercury emitted each year by coal-burning power plants in the United States.
The goal of the MRC is to assist in the development of technologies for reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired power boilers. While the focus will be on mercury control research, the facility will provide an excellent platform for research in mercury monitoring systems, technologies to control other pollutants, balance of plant technology impacts, Hg-speciation chemistry research, and other topics.
The Center's backbone will be a flue gas "slip stream," routed from one of the Plant Crist boilers to a series of scaled-down critical plant systems, environmental systems, and other equipment. In all, five environmental technologies will be in place, including an industry-standard selective catalytic reduction (SCR) unit, rotary air pre-heater, baghouse, electrostatic precipitator, and wet limestone scrubber.
"We are establishing something here that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, and we believe we will make great strides in discovering new methods of reducing emissions," said Jim Vick, manager of Environmental Affairs for Gulf Power. Existing and pending regulations, increased public awareness, and strategic business factors have motivated electric utilities to look for technologies to reduce mercury emissions.
The facility will be available to a wide range of interested users. "We're already fielding requests from organizations that want us to conduct new technology demonstrations and research projects at the MRC," says Hinton. "If this pace continues, the facility could be booked solid more quickly than we anticipated."
About Southern Research Institute
Southern Research is an independent, not-for-profit organization that conducts scientific research at facilities in Alabama, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina. Southern Research provides contract research in the fields of engineering, environmental and energy-related research, automotive research and testing, and preclinical drug discovery and drug development. For more information, see www.southernresearch.org.
Media Contacts: Rhonda Jung, Southern Research, 205-581-2317, jung@southernresearch.org