IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Thailand’s Coal‐fired Power Plant
Pollution Control

Dr.Wijarn Simachaya
DirectorDirector‐‐General
Pollution Control Department
1

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Thailand’s Coal‐Coal‐fired Power Plant Pollution Control
 Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) / Environmental
Health Impact Assessment (EHIA)
 Emission and Effluent Standards
 Lesson Learned
 Lesson Learned for SO2 Control in Coal‐fired Power Plant inThailand (Mae Moh Power Plant) Krabi coal‐fired power plant project was opposed bycommunitiesii
 Anti‐coal protester in Samut Sakhon
 Unsafe mercury levels found in fish in a river nearby industrial
estate in Prachin Buri Recommendations

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA)
Assessment(EIA) /Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA)
Type of projects oractivities

Sizes

EIA

Thermal Power Plant

Productivityy of electricityy is 10
MW or more

EHIA

Thermal Power Plant as follow:
Electric Plant using coal as fuelTotal productivity of electricity ismore than 100 MW

Coal mining which is specifically More than 200,000 ton per
loaded Coal from the area byymonth or 2,400,000 ton p
per yyeartrucks.

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Emission and Effluent Standards
Emission Standards for New Power Plant

Industrial Emission Standards (used coal as fuel)Industrial Effluent Standards

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Emission Standards for New Power Plant
Power Plant typeyp
(size and fuel type)

TSP(mg/m3)

SO2(ppm)NOx(ppm) Power Plant Size 50 MW

80
80

360
180200
200

Oil

120

260

180

Natural gas

6020120

Biomass120

60200Coal Power Plant Size > 50 MW

Source : Pollution Control Department,Department 2009
Note: Approved by the National Environment Board since 18 June 2008

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Industrial Emission Standards (Criteria pollutants)
Emission
Ei iStandard
St d dProduction
Production
Process
Process
without Fuelwith Fuel
Combustion
Combustion

Pollutant

SourceParticulate Matter: mg/m3

Boiler or Heat generating source- Heavy oil- Coal
- Biomass- Other fuelProduction Process
Boiler or Heat generating source- Heavy oil- Coal
- Biomass- Other fuelProduction Process
Boiler or Heat generating source- Heavy oil- Coal
- Biomass- Ot
Othere fuelue
Production Process

Sulfur Dioxide: ppm

Oxides ofNitNitrogen(as Nitrogen Dioxide ): ppm
Carbon Monoxide: ppm

6400240320320
320
320500950
700
6060-870

200400
200
20000
690

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Industrial Effluent Standards
Parameters
pH value
1. p

Effluent limits
5.5‐9.0

2. Total Dissolved Solids not more than 3,000 mg/l depending on receiving(TDS)
water or type of industry under consideration of PCC
but not exceed 5,000 mg/l
not more than 5,000 mg/l exceed TDS of receiving
water havingg salinityy of more than 2,000,mg/l
g/ or TDSof sea if discharge to sea
3. Suspended solids (SS) not more than 50 mg/l depending on receiving wateror type of industry or wastewater treatment system
under consideration of PCC but not exceed 150 mg/l
4 Temperature4.

not more thanh 40°C

5. Color and Odor

not objectionableIEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Industrial Effluent Standards
Parameters

Effluent limits

6. Sulphide as H2S

not more than 1.0 mg/l

7. Cyanide as HCN

not more than 0.2 mg/l

8. Fat, Oil & Grease (FOG) not more than 5.0 mg/l depending of receiving
water or type of industry under consideration of PCC
but not exceed 15.0 mg/l
9. Formaldehyde

not more than 1.0 mg/l

10.Phenols

not more than 1.0 mg/l

11.Free Chlorine

not more than 1.0 mg/l

12.Pesticides

not detectable

13.Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (BOD)

not more than 20 mg/l depending on receiving
water or type of industry under consideration of PCC
but not exceed 60 mg/l

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Industrial Effluent Standards
Parameters

Standard Values

14.Total Kjedahl Nitrogen not more than 100 mg/l depending on receiving(TKN)
water or type of industry under consideration of PCC
but not exceed 200 mg/l
15.Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD)
16.Heavy
16Hmetalst l1) Zinc (Zn)2) Chromium(Hexavalent)

not more than 120 mg/l depending on receiving
water of type of industry under consideration of PCC
but not exceed 400 mg/l
not more than 5.0 mg/l
not more than 00.25
25 mg/l

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Industrial Effluent Standards
Parameters
16.Heavy metals (continued)

Effluent limits3) Chromium (Trivalent)

not more than 0.75 mg/l/4) Copper (Cu)not more than 2.0 mg/l5) Cadmium (Cd)not more than 0.03 mg/l6) Barium (Ba)not more than 1.0 mg/l7) Lead (Pb)not more than 0.2 mg/l8) Nickel (Ni)not more than 1
1.00 mg/l9) Manganese (Mn)not more than 5.0 mg/l10)0) Arsenici ((As))

not more thanh 0.250 2 mg/l/l11) Selenium (Se)not more than 0.02 mg/l12) Mercury (Hg)

not more than 0.005 mg/l

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Lesson Learned for SO2 Control in Coal‐fired
Power Plant in Thailand

Mae Moh Power Plant
Located in Mae Moh District,Lampang Province

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Mae Moh Power Plant
 Total installed capacity is 2,625 MW
 13 generating units using lignite as fuel
 Lignite consumption ~ 50,000 tons/day
 Average sulfur content ~ 3% by weight High SO2 emission ~ 150 tons/hr if no control
Units

Installed capacity(MW/unit)

Stack Height (m)Air Pollution Control System

1 ‐37580EP (99.9%)
Low NOx Burner

4 ‐7150150

EP (99.9%)()
Low NOx Burner

8 ‐1313300150

EP (99.9%)/ Low NOx Burner / FGD(Unit 12, 13)

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

History of SO2 episode in Mae Moh

First Episode: October 1992
 Large amounts of SO2 emitted from the power plant Accumulation of SO2 in the air above the Mae Moh Basing in the Observed hourlyy concentration of SO2 was veryy highareas south of the power plant Complaints from people living in the villages around thepower plant ReportsRt off peoplel suffering
ff i from
frespiratoryi tirritation,i it tianddeffect on plants and live stocks

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

History of SO2 episode in Mae Moh

Immediate mitigation measures
 Reduce generating loads
 Use low sulfur lignite
 Continuously monitor ambient SO2 concentrations in thevillages around the power plant Set preliminary hourly ambient air quality standard for SO2
at 1,300 µg/m3

LLong
tterm mitigation
iti ti measures
 Establish hourly ambient air quality standard for SO2 at 780µg/m3 (300 ppb),ppb) in addition to daily (300 µg/m3) andannual (100 µg/m3) standards
 Determine SO2 carrying capacity of the Mae Moh Basin Determine the most cost‐effective SO2 control measures

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

History of SO2 episode in Mae Moh

The most cost
cost‐effectiveeffective SO2 emission control measures• No more new power plant in the Mae Moh Basin• Not allowed to emit SO2 more than 11 ton/hrs at anytime
and not more than 7 ton/hrs during winter months• Retrofit Units 4‐11 with Wet Limestone Forced Oxidation
FGD with 98% control efficiency (Units 12‐13 have FGDs withoriginal design)• UseU lilignite
it S <1%1%• Install Continuous Emission Monitoring System in allgenerating units• Continuously monitor ambient air quality• Not allowed to operate the power plant without FGD inoperation

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

History of SO2 episode in Mae Moh

Second Episode:
Episode August 1998
 FGD systems are not yet installed in all units Two installed FGD systems were out of service and somewere shut down for the maintenance Power plant continued to operate the two generating units
without FGD in operation
 Abrupt change in the atmospheric condition, i.e. cool air andraini High levels of hourly concentrations of SO2 was observed
 Impacts to human health, plants, crops and livestock wereobserved

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Achievement in SO2 Control in Mae Moh Basin The installation of the last FGD system wascompleted in February 2000
 SO2 emission is reduced from 150 tons/hrs to lessthan 7 tons/hrs
 Gradual reduction of ambient SO2 concentrations
has been observed since 1998
 SO2 concentrations in Mae Moh basin meeting thestandards
 Maximum hourly concentration of SO2 is reduced
from >3,000 µg/m3 to <300 µg/m3

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

SO2 Control in Mae Moh Power Plant

Source : Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand

IEEJ：December 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Krabi coal‐fired power plant project
was opposoed by protester Since early 2014,2014 the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
has proposed to build a controversial 60 billion baht (about USD 1.8billion) coal‐fired power plant with 870 megawatts (MW) capacity and acoall seaportt adjacent
djt tto it iin K
Krabi
bi P
Provincei
 Environmental activists protest against coal‐fired power plant project insouthern Thailand The government's decision to set up a joint committee that includes all
stakeholders to discuss, study and improve the plan to build a 800MW
coal‐fired power plant in Krabi

Source : www.nationmultimedia.com
19
www.prachatai.com

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Anti‐coal pprotester in Samut Sakhon

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Unsafe mercury levels found in fish in a river
nearby industrial estate in Prachin Buri
 Pollution Control Department(PCD) found 17 kinds of fish out of
23 sampled contained highmercury levels,l l althoughlhh they
h werewithin international safety levels
under the Codex Alimentary
Commission
 Exceeds the standard set by thePublic Health Ministry. Under thisstandard, the level of mercury infood should not exceed 0.02mg/kg.
SSource: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
htt //tilti di/

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Recommendations
 Disposep
coal combustion residuals byy effective
management and utilization of coal ash as raw material
for other industries
 Value added products and applications of fly ash andbottom ash
 Apply green supply chain management for CoalTransportation
 ApplyA l Best
B Available
A il bl TechniqueT h iforf allll industries
i di usingicoal as fuelsContact :report@tky.ieej.or.jp