Mercury CEMS for Compliance and Process Monitoring

Obtaining meaningful data can have a significant impact on your process whether using the mercury CEMS for process monitoring or compliance monitoring. Accurate and relevant data can result in cost and resource savings. The table below lists some of the required tests and recommended on- going checks using the Mercury CEMS for either compliance or process control in order to provide the greatest amount of meaningful data.

Note that the acceptance criteria for compliance monitoring falls under the MATS or the PC MACT rule and this is not a complete list. For process control applications, the pass/fail criteria can be user-specific depending on the application.

Having a real-time monitor running in your process enables full visibility that can help tighten your process parameters. Any Mercury control performance guarantee supplied by a sorbent manufacturer can be verified when the probe is upstream of the mercury control system. When the probe is downstream of the mercury control system, the amount of sorbent can be easily and accurately adjusted to reach your compliance goals. The Mercury Freedom System can be a good solution for compliance monitoring in addition to process monitoring because it is a self-contained system and no other hardware or software is needed.

Facilities using mercury CEMS for process control realize significant savings in consumable costs. Whether using sorbent injection, activated carbon injection or other plant-specific techniques for control of mercury, having a real-time monitor integrated into the process eliminates the guess work associated with sorbent injection. Using a real-time monitor reduces the risk of under-injecting and minimizes the risk of over-injecting sorbent. As the mercury level gets more accurate, the realization of cost savings increases. 

Having a technician who is trained in mercury CEMS is one avenue toward consistent and successful mercury monitoring. It has been shown that facilities with an onsite mercury CEMS expert can diagnose performance issues more quickly and accurately. Furthermore, properly trained mercury technicians are more likely to bring the issue to resolution quicker. 

All technicians who interact with the mercury CEMS benefit from training. There is still room available in the August and November mercury CEMs course in Franklin, MA. These courses are designed for users of varying abilities and cover regulatory considerations, installation and configuration, sample probe use, and advanced maintenance and troubleshooting. Customized classes are available and easily scheduled by contacting our Technical Training team.

Next Month's Topic: Tips for measuring nitrogen oxides (NO_x) levels in the air