Group ready to fight proposed sulphur plant

April 13, 2009 by admin.

The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton,Alberta,Canada
April 13, 2009

Bruderheim families voice safety concerns over ‘dangerous’ plan
By Andrea Sands,

…Area homeowners are also worried that train cars carrying sulphur to and from the plant may derail. Debbie Bishop, a lawyer for FOLC, said residents don’t … (Full Story)

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Note by folc.ca: The article identified above discusses the concerns of FOLC (Friends of Lamont County) that county residents in the vicinity of a proposed sulphur-forming, -storage and -shipping facility to be built less than two miles east of the Town have, if the Natural Resource Conservation Board (NRCB) gives HAZCO permission to build the sulphur plant and storage facility at the intended location.

The sulphur storage will have a capacity of up to 90,000 tonnes.  That is the carrying capacity of approximately six sulphur unit-trains of a hundred cars each and six times the amount of sulphur that burned in the disastrous sulphur fire that harmed thousands of residents at the town of Macassar, South Africa, in 1995.  Macassar was located at a somewhat greater distance from that sulphur fire than Bruderheim is located in relation to the proposedHAZCO sulphur plant.

The NRCB hearing will be held during an estimated four-day interval at the Lakeview Inn & Suites, 10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan.  The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m., April 14, 2009.

The NRCB hearing is crucial to the future of the people who live in Lamont County.  What is at stake is essentially whether Lamont County — at the very least the areas that have been rezoned Heavy Industrial, and the areas adjacent to them — will within the space of a few years become as devoid of residences as is the Industrial Heartland in Strathcona County.

HAZCO’s sulphur facility poses a threat to residents within a large radius from its location (including the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont).  That is what is at stake at the NRCB hearing beginning on Tuesday.

It is in the best interest of every single resident of our county to attend.  It is especially in the interest of the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont to attend.

A good number of concerns by Lamont-County residents have not yet been addressed satisfactorily.  It is our health, our lives and our wellbeing that is at stake.

Make sure you are there!

 Lakeview Inn & Suites

10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan,

April 14, 2009, 9:00 a.m.

The details of the concerns by FOLC can be looked up at this link.

More information about sulphur fires is accessible at folc.ca.

Posted in Energy Purchases, Fines & Penalties, Hazco, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Chinese drywall in Florida may be causing health problems

December 20, 2008 by admin.

news-press.com
Fort Myers, Florida, USA

2008 12 19

BREAKING: Chinese drywall in Lee County homes may be causing health problems

By Mary Wozniak and Dick Hogan

….We have been provided with evidence of complaints of issues of sulfur odors in homes. We have been told about the associated failure of (air conditioning) coils,” he said.

The drywall appears to be emitting sulfur compounds that are corroding coils and other copper-bearing materials, causing them to be replaced repeatedly.

Eldredge cautioned that the health department cannot confirm exactly what the source of the problem is, but the department is working with a consultant representing a homebuilder who believes sulfur gases from drywall are the problem.

“We have not reviewed that data nor can we confirm or support that contention,” he said. “Our primary concern at the heath department is whether or not this is a health risk,” he said.

“It certainly does raise concerns,” said Dr. David Krause, toxicologist for the state Health Department. “There may be a direct health threat,” he said.

The drywall could be emitting one of several sulfur compounds, including sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide, he said….(Full Story)

More on the Chinese drywall problems:

The Defective Chinese Drywall Debacle
Date Published: Monday, January 26th, 2009

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Comment by folc.ca: Whether emissions of sulfur dioxide or of hydrogen sulfide in homes constructed with Chinese-made drywall are the problem has not yet been proven and remains to be seen.

All drywall contains sulphur, as all drywall consists in the majority of gypsum.  Gypsum can be mined but it is also a waste by-product of the fertilizer industry and of fossil-fuel-fired power generation — whenever sulphuric acid is used to leach metals or minerals from ore, or whenever sulphur dioxide needs to be removed from the exhaust gases of fossil-fuel-burning thermal power plants.

For example, industrial processes produce gypsum when sulphur dioxide is being neutralized by passing it through a slurry of water and lime.  Sulphur dioxide reacts with the calcium in the slurry that it is being percolated through to form gypsum (hydrated calcium sulphate, CaSO₄·2H₂O).

The slurry is being stored in settling ponds in which the gypsum settles from its suspension in the water.  The water is then returned to the scrubbing process.  That process produces mountains of gypsum with often massive proportions.

A characteristic of the gypsum that is a waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry is that it is radioactive, about 60 times more radioactive than the phosphate fertilizer produced.  That is due to the circumstance that the phosphate rock that is a feedstock for phosphate fertilizer production contains isotopes such as of uranium and thorium that become concentrated in the waste gypsum (a.k.a. phosphogypsum) during the production processes.

Interestingly, in connection with gypsum production through large-scale industrial processes, the highest geographical feature in all of Florida is a man-made mountain of gypsum.

The huge, unsightly mounds can stretch across hundreds of acres. Some covered, some uncovered–these mountainous stacks can be an eyesore on the flat, sandy Florida skyline. Whitish gray in color, with a crusty surface look like massive heaps of table salt that tower up to 200 feet high.

This is Florida’s stockpile of phosphogypsum. More than 600 million tons of it are already on the ground and an additional 30 million tons accumulate yearly….(Full Story)

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Florida has a large quantity of phosphate deposits, particularly in Bone Valley region. However, the marine-deposited phosphate ore from central Florida is highly radioactive, and as such, the phosphogypsum by-product is too radioactive to be used for most applications. As a result, there are about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 25 stacks in Florida (22 are in central Florida) and about 30 million new tons are generated each year.^[2]

(Wikipedia: Phosphogypsum)

The presence of sulphur in industrial environments causes problems with computer equipment and cell phones, as the sulpur compounds in the atmosphere will affect the soldered connections of microchips, often causing them to fail.  Such problems manifest themselves in surprising circumstances that often have no direct connection at all to either fertilizer production or comparable industrial processes.  For instance,

Ford investigative team solves automotive ‘mysteries’

Reliable Plant Magazine - Tulsa, OK, USA,

Nov/Dec 2006

Central Lab chemist Tom Munie discovered that the solder on the motherboards and other circuitry within these computers had been attacked by sulfur, ….

“We were seeing a lot of new computers in one particular area of the design center that were malfunctioning – sometimes within the first 30 days,” says Ford commodity analyst Cyndi Morrell….(Full Story)

It could be a bit of a red herring to focus the examination of sulphur problems in Florida just on Chinese-made drywall.  After all, drywall is drywall (unless China used its drywall to dispose of other forms of its waste sulphur — of which its growing economy has many).  On the other hand, Florida has a lot of sources of sulphur that can contaminate its environment and cause failures of copper-containing equipment components or may even cause a variety of health problems.

Perhaps one of the first issues to be examined should be whether any of Florida’s phosphogypsum was exported to China and whether then it was used there to produce drywall that was exported to the whole world and to Florida.  It would not hurt to prove that that route of environmental pollution in Florida can and should be ruled out.

Then it may be worth the effort to see how much of Florida’s phosphogypsum made its way into road and parking lot construction in Lee County and in other areas affected by sulphur-pollution problems.  After all, Florida ran a lot of experiments in the early 1990s to find practical ways by which to get rid of its masses of waste-phosphogypsum.

Posted in Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | 2 Comments »

Chemical Fumes at Huntsville Plant Send Three Employees To Hospital

December 9, 2008 by admin.

WHNT - Huntsville, AL, USA

December 7, 2008

Chemical Fumes at Huntsville Plant Send Three Employees To Hospital

By Jamie McGriff, WHNT NewsChannel 19 Reporter
Email: jamie.mcgriff@whnt.com

Sunday afternoon around 3:30 emergency responders were alerted to something that would make anyone nervous.

“We got a call out here a medical call that a man was down,” said Jim Kay, District Chief for Huntsville Fire and Rescue.

Kay said an employee of ATI-Alldyne in Huntsville passed out.  ATI-Alldyne is a metal manufacturing plant on Highway 20 in Huntsville, just before you get to Madison.

Two other employees with the man who passed out were also taken to the hospital as a precaution….(Full Story

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

Alter NRG Corp. finalized purchase of Erco Site, in Lamont County, east of and adjacent to Bruderheim

September 17, 2008 by admin.

Alter NRG Corp. announces the finalization of the plant siting for the first Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power facility in Canada.

TSXV - NRG CALGARY, Sept. 15 /CNW/ - Alter NRG Corp. (”Alter NRG” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed the previously announced acquisition of a project site in Bruderheim, Alberta (approximately 60 kilometers northeast of Edmonton) for $3.1 million, including $0.6 million in costs related to settlement of existing transmission commitments. The Company plans to use the site to develop Canada’s first IGCC facility with the first phase to be operational as early as 2010. On commencement of operations, the facility is expected to be capable of producing approximately 120 megawatts (MW) of electric power using a blend of natural gas as well as synthesis gas (syngas) produced using Alter NRG’s proprietary plasma gasification technology. The facility will be designed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) with approximately 600,000 tonnes per year of captured CO2 to be injected into nearby geological formations or used at nearby oilfields in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects….(Full Story)
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Comments by folc.ca : It is obvious that lawyers had a heavy hand in wording the long list of exceptions and cautionary notes stated at the end of the Alter NRG news release, under the heading, Advisory Respecting Forward-Looking Statements. The list of exemptions shown there is very long. In combination with that list, the following key statements contained in the Advisory loom large and heavy:

The forward-looking information and statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon….

The Company cautions that the foregoing list of assumptions, risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required pursuant to applicable securities laws.

Translating the legalese into English for normal mortals and in the process condensing it into something that is more useful, what that means then is that, quite possibly, none of the information in the news release by Alter NRG is necessarily final or subsequently true after having been published.

The news release contains information that should worry people living close to the proposed Alter NRG power generating plant, some within less than half a mile, with the eastern boundary of Bruderheim being as close as half a mile to the plant.

The following identifies a few of the statements contained in the news release and also some of the concerns relating to them.

1. On commencement of operations, the facility is expected to be capable of producing approximately 120 megawatts (MW) of electric power using a blend of natural gas as well as synthesis gas (syngas) produced using Alter NRG’s proprietary plasma gasification technology.

Comment by folc.ca: Natural gas is a natural resource that is the primary fuel for home heating in Alberta. Alberta’s natural gas is also a resource that is rapidly being depleted, as a result of which the price of natural gas is escalating.  The production of electric energy from natural gas and its substitute, syngas, is wasteful and will increase the demand for natural gas and syngas. That will cause increases in prices for gas used for home heating.

2. The facility will be designed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) with approximately 600,000 tonnes per year of captured CO2 to be injected into nearby geological formations or used at nearby oilfields in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects.

Comment by folc.ca: The news release states nothing about the fact that CO2 is not a pollutant. More importantly, the news release makes absolutely no mention of pollutants that the plant will produce and how those will be dealt with, so as to prevent their injection into the environment, for instance, nitrous oxides and sulphur dioxide, of which especially the latter has the potential of creating serious and very harmful degradation of the local and general environment.

Nevertheless, there are issues of great concern that directly relate to the scheme for CO2 capture, transport and disposal.

The process of CO2 capture and injection into nearby geological formations requires transportation of an average of 1,700 tonnes of CO2 each day.  How will that be done and by what means?  If the transporting is by trucks, that means that there will be an enormous increase in road traffic, in the order of an average of at least 280 trucks a day (assuming an average of six tonnes of CO2 carrying capacity per truck), about 12 trucks every hour (assuming that the trucks operate around the clock) and considerably more than that if the trucking operations cease during the night.

Furthermore, the logistics of the whole process seem daunting and are not likely to work without flaws or bottlenecks.  If CO2 capture, transporting and injection into the ground should at any time and for any reason be below the required average of 1,700 tonnes per day, will the power plant be shut down, or will it make use of as yet unidentified buffer storage on site?  That storage facility will have to be substantially large and be capable of containing CO2 under great pressure.

Nothing is perfect.  The storage and transporting of large volumes of CO2 present dangers to people and property in the vicinity of the plant and transportation routes.  Aside from the increased likelihood of vehicle accidents in Bruderheim and vicinity, what are any other dangers the scheme of CO2 capture, transporting and injection will pose to residents in the area?

3. The project is expected to be completed in two phases in order to take advantage of near-term capacity needs in the Alberta power market.

Comment by folc.ca: Alter NRG cannot be faulted for wanting to take advantage of the increasing market demand for electric energy. However, the escalating shortage of electric energy is a result of the Alberta government’s failure to create effective policies for the construction of large-scale power plants for the generation of electric energy. That massive problem will not be solved by increasing reliance on Band-Aid solutions, such as energy production through wind-turbine farms (of primary benefit only to the main producer of wind turbines in North America: General Electric) and through natural-gas-fired power plants.

Electric energy production from natural gas or syngas will add to demand for natural gas and for syngas. That will drive up the price for home-heating fuel and for fertilizer (the price for fertilizer is presently at about $2,000 a tonne).

4. NGCC facilities are the cleanest fossil fuel power generation technology available today.

Comment by folc.ca : That statement is true, but it is not all of the truth. Aside from increasing the demand for natural gas — with associated price increases, the demand for increased production of natural gas will also increase the production of sulphur. Especially new natural gas sources produce sour gas, meaning gas that must be stripped of its large content of hydrogen sulphide before it can be injected into the Alberta gas distribution system.

The inventory of Alberta’s waste sulphur is presently at about $11 million tonnes. Large-scale use of natural gas will escalate Alberta’s problems with issues arising from stockpiling waste sulphur.

Canada is one of only two nations in the world (the Russian Federation being the other one) that presently and unreservedly permit the stockpiling of waste sulphur. Large scale electric energy production from coal can without a doubt be made to be as clean as that from natural gas. The current technology for that is to store waste sulphur produced from coal-fired power plants in the form of relatively inert gypsum (much like the gypsum pile at the Agrium Fertilizer Plant south of Redwater).

5. The regulatory process is underway, as regulatory permitting is critical for early implementation of the first phase. The Company expects timely issuance of the required permits.

Comment by folc.ca : Whatever it may mean that the “regulatory process is underway,” that process has not yet progressed to the point where any of the residents who are concerned parties in the vicinity of the proposed power plant have been formally notified of any hearings or other aspects of the required “regulatory process” and environmental reviews.

6. The second phase of the project will use petroleum coke and oilfield waste, which are both available in the nearby area, to create syngas using the Alter NRG proprietary gasification system.

Comment by folc.ca : Neither that statement nor anything else in the Alter NRG news release mentions that petroleum coke and oilfield waste contain potentially very large portions of sulphur and other pollutants that need to be stripped from either those primary fuel sources or from the syngas produced from them or from the flue gases of the Alter NRG power generating plant, so as to meet environmental pollution parameters dictated by Alberta Environment.

What will Alter NRG do with the pollutants, such as waste sulphur, it would produce at its proposed power generating plant to be located just a few hundred meters east of Bruderheim?

7. The Bruderheim facility will capture up to 90% of the CO(2) produced by the plasma gasifier (up to 1,700 tonnes per day) which is expected to be sold to oilfield producers in the nearby area for EOR.

Comment by folc.ca : What that means is that ten and more percent (how much more is left unspecified) of the CO2 produced will not be captured.

Still, the fact is that CO2 is not a pollutant, and that no one should worry about it, except people like Al Gore (who makes a good living from the brokering of carbon credits and from promoting the fears required to make that carbon credit brokering a viable enterprise).

However, we must worry about the pollutants that the Alter NRG news release does not mention at all. It is worrysome in the extreme that the Alter NRG news release does not mention any pollutants other than the ostensibly polluting but in reality environmentally-beneficial CO2.

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Without a doubt, benign and even environmentally-beneficial CO2 is a major component of the emissions of the power generating plant proposed by Alter NRG.  Still, another potentially benign and major component of the proposed power plant’s effluents, water (not mentioned by Alter NRG), will in all likelihood have a very detrimental impact on the environment in the immediate vicinity of the proposed power plant.

Water is a major by-product of the combustion of hydrocarbons. The water vapour that would come out of the flue stacks of the proposed power plant would be invisible for varying distances from the flue stacks. However, the distance of that invisibility varies with the weather — humidity and temperature.

In extremely cold weather, the water vapour turns into a large cloud that, depending on local weather conditions, lingers in the local environment and adds to the often and increasingly severe fogs that have become more and more prevalent in and around Bruderheim.

Given that the fog to be produced by the proposed power plant will contain sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides, the fog will be acidic. Alter NRG stated nothing about that. That is extremely worrying and needs to be addressed in the environmental review process for the plant, of which, so far, we have heard absolutely nothing.

SULFUR COMPOUNDS (SOx)

The primary reason sulfur compounds, or SOx, are classified as a pollutant is because they react with water vapor (in the flue gas and atmosphere) to form sulfuric acid mist. Airborne sulfuric acid has been found in fog, smog, acid rain, and snow. Sulfuric acid has also been found in lakes, rivers, and soil. The acid is extremely corrosive and harmful to the environment….

Historically, SOx pollution has been controlled by either dispersion or reduction. Dispersion involves the utilization of a tall stack, which enables the release of pollutants high above the ground and over any surrounding buildings, mountains, or hills, in order to limit ground level SOx emissions. Today, dispersion alone is not enough to meet more stringent SOx emission requirements; reduction methods must also be employed….

Flue gas desulfurization systems are classified as either non-regenerable or regenerable. Non-regenerable FGD systems, the most common type, result in a waste product that requires proper disposal. Regenerable FGD converts the waste by-product into a marketable product, such as sulfur or sulfuric acid. SOx emission reductions of 90-95% can be achieved through FGD. Fuel desulfurization and FGD are primarily used for reducing SOx emissions for large utility boilers. Generally the technology cannot be cost justified on industrial boilers.

Emissions Cleaver Brooks Package Boiler Systems 2002 08 17

Note: Given the escalating world sulphur glut, converting “the waste into a marketable product” requires solutions that have not yet been found to be practical or viable. Still, it is wrong or only partially correct to state that “Generally the technology cannot be cost justified on industrial boilers.”

The controlling factor is not cost justification (that would make it a discretionary option) but environmental regulation and is therefore mandatory, not an option. –Walter

–Walter Schneider
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Related story:  Alter NRG powerplant east of Bruderheim put on ice (Oct, 22, 2008)

Posted in Explosions & Fires, Community & Industry, Alternative Energy Sources, Acid Rain, Nitrogen-Oxides, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | 1 Comment »

Eastman to Invest $200 Million to Reduce Air Emissions

November 8, 2007 by admin.

Eastman, 2007 11 08

Eastman Proposes to Invest $200 Million in Equipment to Reduce Air Emissions

Company’s Effort is Part of $1.3 Billion “Project Reinvest” Announced Earlier this Year

KINGSPORT, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eastman Chemical Company has proposed to install additional air pollution control equipment on five industrial boilers at its Tennessee operations in Kingsport, Tenn. The company is in the process of selecting an engineering firm and construction should take place during 2009 to 2013. The $200 million capital project is part of the $1.3 billion dollar reinvestment plan, called “Project Reinvest” announced earlier this year for the Kingsport site….

“This will be the largest single air pollution control project ever undertaken at Eastman’s Tennessee operations,” said Parker Smith, vice president and general manager of Worldwide Manufacturing Support for Eastman. “We estimate an overall 60 percent reduction in emissions of sulfur dioxide from our facility. We are hopeful this project will not only assist Tennessee in meeting its regional haze goals under the Clean Air Act, but will also help our area here in Northeast Tennessee stay ‘ahead of the curve’ and remain in attainment of all relevant air quality standards.

Eastman’s plans are to install technology that will remove an estimated 90 percent of the sulfur dioxide emitted as a by-product from the burning of coal in the five boilers. The technology includes installing spray dryer absorbers, along with replacing electrostatic precipitators with fabric filters. Spray dryer absorbers use hydrated lime to neutralize sulfur dioxide emissions. They are also effective in removing emissions of hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, sulfuric acid, and mercury…. (Full Story)

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Note by folc.ca: What will they do with all of that polluted gypsum that they will produce when neutralizing their emissions? Oh well, it’s better than putting all of the SO2 and the other pollutants into the air.

Posted in Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Nitrogen-Oxides, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

Seawater-scrubbing of diesel exhausts on cruise ship

October 29, 2007 by admin.

folc.ca

Holland America Lines test seawater-scrubbing of diesel exhausts on cruise ship

Massive sulphate disposal in seawater, is it safe, or will history repeat itself?

Walter Schneider

According to announcements by Holland America Cruise Lines and by Kristallon (the maker of the scrubber) earlier this year and later, one of the best solutions ever devised to reduce and curb cruise-ship-engine emissions, and thereby the massive sulphur-dioxide (SO₂) pollution produced by cruise ships, was about to be tested and is undergoing testing right now, with promising results.

The seawater scrubber on the cruise ship Zaandam (Inland route Vancouver to Alaska) will use 450 tonnes of seawater an hour to help convert SO₂ to sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) and to sulphate (SO₄^2-). The altered seawater from the conversion of the SO₂ by the seawater scrubber will be discharged - diluted at a ratio of 1:10 - into the ocean. The conversion of the remaining sulphuric acid contained in the discharge water will then be completed in the ocean, to convert the remaining sulphuric acid to sulphate.

In essence, such a conversion process will do what nature does anyway, but it will take a shortcut and eliminate atmospheric pollution and the impact of acid rain caused by cruise-ship emissions. When SO₂ is discharged into the air, it is transformed into sulphur-trioxide (SO₃) and then, upon contact with water in the air, changed to sulphuric acid and into sulphate. That produces acid rain.

A diesel-powered ship equipped with a seawater scrubber will locally discharge concentrated “acid rain” right into the ocean and, where a cruise ship cannot connect to an on-shore source of electric energy (there are none on the Vancouver-Alaska route), right into the water of the harbour where it is berthed.

Various studies that were commissioned to examine the issues involved concentrated on the “acid rain” issue. They mention sulphate-production and -dumping only in passing, if at all. Those studies that mention sulphate consider it to be harmless, but is it?

Sulphate is a source of oxygen for anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria metabolize sulphate and produce, amongst other things, hydrogen-sulphide (evil-smelling in small concentrations and scentless but harmful and even extremely deadly in moderate concentrations). Aside from the fact that the dumping of sulphate causes anaerobic bacteria to thrive in seawater at the bottoms of bodies of water that are starved of oxygen (common in coast waters), the anaerobic bacteria cause a concern that none of the seawater-scrubber studies I examined mention at all.

Anaerobic bacteria that metabolize sulphate convert the all-pervasive mercury in water (its presence there being largely a result of atmospheric distribution of pollution by coal-fired power plants) to a form (methyl-mercury) that is bio-available but not bio-degradable. The danger of methyl-mercury in the biomass is that it becomes concentrated as it moves up through the food chain — by a factor of about 10 every time it passes from one level to the next. At times and in some localities methyl-mercury causes fish (who are one step removed from the top of the food chain) that are contaminated with excessive levels of methyl-mercury to become unsafe to eat.

Methyl-mercury poisoning in humans who regularly ingest fish or shellfish was first discovered in 1956 in Japan, where it produced the infamous Minamata disease and its devastating results. Minamata disease also manifested itself many years later in Canada, in humans that lived, and regularly ate fish, in areas downstream from pulp mills.

Are seawater scrubbers on cruise ships safe for humans? Who knows? One thing is certain. Although the cause of Minamata disease was known for many years, prior to 1970 it was not considered in calculating its impact on humans when pulp mills using mercury-polluted bleach and discharging mercury-polluted water into streams were constructed in Canada.

Minamata disease in Ontario, Canada, was discovered in 1970. The human misery and costs caused by Minamata disease in Ontario were enormous.

There are many settlements along the Inland Route to Alaska that subsist on fish. There are others that sell fish to the whole world. Will seawater scrubbers on cruise ships keep all consumers of fish from that area safe? Who knows? One would think that is worth taking a look at.

However, as of now it does not appear that anyone involved in studying seawater-scrubbing of diesel exhausts of any ship is looking beyond the goal of preventing most or all SO2 produced by ships from entering the atmosphere. The impact that the injection of a massive volume of sulphate will have on the local ecology in coastal waters, in relation to giving anaerobic bacteria a boost that will enable an escalation of the rate of conversion of precipitated mercury to methyl-mercury, appears not to be an issue that is being examined in connection with sulphate production by seawater scrubbers. Nevertheless, the relationship of anaerobic bacteria thriving on sulphate and causing an escalation of the production of methyl-mercury in the process is a fact. For example:

Coastal Environmental Quality Initiative, University of California
Contribution of Iron-Reducing Bacteria of Mercury Methylation in Marine Sediments, by Emily J. Fleming and D C. Nelson; Paper 040, Dec. 8, 2006 (212 kB PDF file)

Quote: [methyl-mercury] enters food chains where it bioaccumulates to concentrations that can cause impaired neurological function in a variety of higher organisms (fish, birds, humans). This toxic conversion has, in the scientific literature, been quite dogmatically attributed to activities of sulfate-reducing bacteria….

More reports and study reports can be accessed through a google-search (about 364 entries on the search-return list)

There may not be any cause for concern with the environmental impact of seawater scrubbers, but it is possible that it exists. If that is the case, and if seawater scrubbers still are permitted to be used, then many people will become severely and incurably ill, and ultimately the taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

Posted in Pollution: Health Issues, Bunker Fuel, Acid Rain, Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

Three large carbon sequestration projects

October 10, 2007 by admin.

BiopactU.S. DOE to invest $197 million in three large carbon sequestration projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces that it has awarded the first three large-scale carbon sequestration projects in the United States and the largest single set in the world to date. The three projects - Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership; Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership; and Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration - will conduct large volume tests for the storage of one million or more tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in deep saline reservoirs….(Full Story)

One of those carbon (and hydrogen-sulphide) sequestration projects involves the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  Specifically in relation to Alberta,

A second test will be conducted in northwestern Alberta, Canada, and will demonstrate the co-sequestration of CO2 and hydrogen sulfide from a large gas-processing plant into a deep saline formation. This will provide data about how hydrogen sulfide affects the sequestration process. The Plains partnership includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, along with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba….(Full Story)

Given that the plant-gate price per long ton of waste sulphur in Alberta saw a steady decline from a high of $56.24 in May 2003 down to $0.00 in July 2007, it is very curious that HAZCO intends to establish a sulphur-forming and -processing facility to the east of Bruderheim, especially given the fact of HAZCO’s statements to the extent that one of the previously faltered proposals for such a facility in Thorhild County was allegedly canned by HAZCO because at that time there was a similar slump in waste-sulphur prices.

Due to the low prices for Alberta waste-sulphur that will now most likely prevail for many years to come, it would appear that HAZCO’s proposal for sulphur forming and processing in Lamont County is now even less likely to ever be economical in relation to the Canadian economy than it was when the Thorhild proposal got scrapped.

However, sulphur-processors, -shippers and -handlers still get paid as long as they manage to  inject sulphur into the glutted word market, regardless of  what the world market price for sulphur happens to be, as long as  Canada wants to get rid of its waste-sulphur, and as long as the taxpayers and end-consumers of oil and gas are willing to pay the price.

It appears that the only viable process for HAZCO (but of course only through subsidization by end consumers of oil-refinery products) is the long-term storing of waste-sulphur in Lamont County.  HAZCO vehemently insists it has no interest in pursuing that option.

See also Sulphur glut poses storage nightmare.

Posted in World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

Suncor emissions exceed limits

September 24, 2007 by admin.

Fort McMurray Today

Suncor emissions exceed limits

By CAROL CHRISTIAN

Suncor Energy’s operation north of Fort McMurray is the second oilsands plant to be hit with an environmental protection order in less than a month after its hydrogen sulphide emissions exceeded provincial limits. (Full Story)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

Rusty Oil & Gas Pipelines Could Drive Molybdenum Price Higher

September 21, 2007 by admin.

StockInterview, Inc.

Rusty Oil & Gas Pipelines Could Drive Molybdenum Price Higher, Part One

As long as air conditioners keep us cool in the summer and central heating warms us in the winter, all is well in the world. In order to keep this gas and electricity continuously flowing into our homes, molybdenum has emerged as an essential metal to help preserve challenging energy transportation network. The anti-corrosive qualities found in molybdenum could also help prevent the collapse of the U.S. energy infrastructure….

In the absence of water, hydrogen sulphide is non-corrosive to pipelines. However, increased moisture in pipelines is problematic, because it activates the corrosive capabilities of hydrogen sulphide. A combination of tensile stress, susceptibility of low-alloy steels and chemical corrosion will lead to sulfide stress cracking. Hydrogen ions weaken the steel. Over time, pressure causes the embrittled steel in the pipeline to rupture.

Similar problems have emerged in the natural gas sector. As deeper wells are drilled in hot, high-pressure gas deposits, the probability of hydrogen sulphide in gas can increase. An entire industry has sprung up around decontaminating sour gas. U.S. sulfur production from gas processing plants accounts for about 15 percent of the total U.S. production of sulfur…. (Full Story)

Posted in Sulphur Logistics, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

Gas leak causes nausea on Dauphin Island

September 4, 2007 by admin.

al.com

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Problems at a natural gas platform near Dauphin Island may have been responsible for a cloud of toxic gas that swept across the island’s east end and sickened dozens of people, an ExxonMobil official said Tuesday.

Dauphin Island Sea Lab classrooms were evacuated, and a half dozen people visited the town’s doctor apparently after exposure to hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous and foul-smelling gas that occurs naturally underground with highly sought methane….

Ordinarily, when operations shut down and the entire system “de-pressurizes,” any deadly hydrogen sulfide in the gas escaping through the vent is burned, or “flared,” and converted to sulfur dioxide, another toxic gas more quickly dispersed by the nearly constant sea breeze….(Full Story)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »