Abstract: Regarding the multiple available solution strategies for wet plume treatment, systematic thermodynamic calculation has been carried out for a 300 MW unit in this paper. The dominant factors are then studied together with the economic analysis. Calculation results for the thermal system show that if conditions permit, lowering down the flue gas temperature before desulphurization can reduce net gas temperature and humidity effectively. In addition, reducing the circulating cooling water temperature at the flue gas condensing heat exchanger turns out to be the most effective way to reduce heat exchange area. Alternatively increasing the cooling water volume is another efficient way. Through economic analysis, it is discovered that equipment depreciation and electricity consumption account for a larger proportion of production cost increments, while the unit utilization hours and water pricing are important contributors to operation and maintenance cost of the reconstruction project. As far as conventional units are concerned, the extra cost per unit MW generation is around 2.5~4.5 yuan/MW incurred by renovation project of wet plume elimination.

Key words: wet FGD, white plume, plume control, renovation of eliminating white, process route, thermodynamic calculation, economic analysis