India continues to drag its feet on combating air pollution with its surprising rejection of emissions-cutting technology for its coal-fired plants presented by of General Electric Co. and other foreign firms. The country has nine of the top 10 air polluting cities in the world and 13 of the top 20.
The rejection of these green energy technology solutions by state-owned NTPC Ltd., the top power firm that generates a quarter of India's electricity effectively disqualifies these foreign firms from contracts worth some $2.4 billion.
NTPC has held talks over the past months with foreign firms including GE; Yara International ASA (a Norwegian chemical company that produces nitrogen fertilizer) and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (the power generating division of the Mitsubishi Group) over the potential purchase of filters that lower emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxide (NOX).
This irritant gas helps in forming smog and acid rain. It's central to the formation of fine particulate matter (PM) and ground-level ozone, both of which are associated with adverse health effects such as lung cancer.
NTPC claims none of the pilot tests it conducted using foreign technologies met its key emissions parameters
"The pilot tests concluded that both selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technologies currently available are not suitable for installation at power plants in India," it said referring to technologies used to cut emissions of NOX.
In its search for emissions-cutting technology, NTPC wants a dilution in NOX emissions standards. Oddly, it previously claimed the lowered standards can be attained with only minor retrofits, without the need to install new and equipment such as those produced by foreign firms. GE and Yara rejected this view, saying their technologies emissions control technologies have been proven worldwide.
NTPC said the high ash content in Indian coal posed challenges to installing SCR technology and that SNCR didn't meet key parameters. The foreign companies countered by saying pilot tests were run in a constrained environment. They pointed out the commercial use of their equipment, which requires some changes to the plant, will cut emissions to the required levels.
"The conditions for the (pilot) test was that we can't touch special parts at all, we can't touch furnace tubes. NTPC did not allow us," said Senthilvel Rangasamy, a GE representative.
NTPC operates 22 coal-fired power stations out the 53 it now owns. It also operates nine coal-fired stations owned by joint ventures or subsidiaries.
Thermal power companies such as those operated by NTPC produce 75% of India's electricity and account for some 80% of India's industrial emissions of sulfur oxides that cause lung diseases and NOX.
More than 70 percent of India's electricity is produced by polluting coal-fired power plants that use low-grade coal low on energy content and high on waste and pollution. Most of them don't have modern emission control technologies.
