The long term outlook has been made more certain with a ruling by the US Supreme Court upholding ozone standards promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition the proposed build of new coal fired power plants, made feasible by the fast rising prices of natural gas, represents a market not anticipated until now.
Plans for some 15 new coal fired plants have been announced already this year, each plant equipped with selective catalytic reduction systems, or an equivalent high efficiency removal system.
Selective catalytic reduction will continue to be the best selling NOx reduction technology, with expenditure on new systems totalling $1.4 billion in 2001. Catalyst sales will rise to $415 million, only $62 million of which will be for gas turbine plant. Sales of low NOx burners and other combustion modification equipment are projected at $295 million in 2001, while sales of non-catalytic systems will stay level at $58 million.
Future emphasis will be on NOx absorption, especially in systems that can deal with both SO2 and NOx, since most of the potential investment in combustion improvement for existing plant has already taken place.
