Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature: ___________________________ Project No.: 0172.07.029.030 DISTRIBUTION

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Project Name: Steam Electric Detailed Study

TELEPHONE CALL RECORD

Outgoing Call Date: 12/1/09 Time: 2:00 pm EST

Company Name: DTE Energy’s Monroe Power Plant Contact Name: Jason Brown

Phone No .: 734-384-6852

Name: Kurt Blohm Eastern Research Group

GENERAL SUBJECT : DTE Energy’s Monroe Power Plant Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) Wastewater Treatment System

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND ACTION TAKEN

On Tuesday December 1, 2009, I contacted Jason Brown of Monroe Power Plant (Monroe) and told him that I wanted to verify information collected during EPA’s si te visit to Monroe in Se ptember 2009 relating the FGD systems and FGD wastewater treatment system. I explaine d that EPA is will be conducting sampling episodes at several power plants to collect wastewater samples fr om FGD wastewater treatment systems, and that the information collected would help EPA make decisions about facilities it may sample during the rulemaking.

Mr. Brown stated that Generating Un its 3 and 4 both exhaust to their ow n wet FGD systems. New FGD systems are planned to be installed on Units 1 and 2 in 2014 or 2015. All currently operating and planned FGD units use limestone-forced oxidation. Monroe operates SCRs on Units 1, 3, and 4. A new SCR is planned to be installed on Unit 2 at the same time the new FGD systems are inst alled. Monroe operates the existing SCRs and plans to operate the new SCR on a year-round ba sis. Monroe does not use additives in the FGD systems. Mr. Brown did not expect that Monroe will need to us e additives in the FGD system in the future. However, if the system does not achieve its guarantee for mercury removal, Monroe may add dibasic acid (DBA) to the FGD systems.

Mr. Brown stated that the FGD wastewat er treatment system consists of two identical trains. Both trains have the capacity to handle the combined purge flow rate from the two existing FGD units in addition to the predicted combined purge flow rate from the two planned FGD systems. Mr . Brown stated that Monroe has a two-train system as a security measure in case one tr ain is out of service. Monroe only operates one train currently, and is in the pro cess of commissioning the othe r train. Monroe began operat ion of the first train in June 2009 with the startup of the first FGD system (on Unit 4).

Mr. Brown verified that th e following process description of the id entical FGD wastewater treatment system trains is correct: The FGD scrubber purge is sent to an equalization tank. The equa lization tank also receives the filtrate from the wastewater treatment filter press, off-spec treated effluent, and water collected from the sumps of the wastewater treatment sy stem building. The effluent from the equalization tank is transferred to a first reaction tank where lime slurry is added to adjust the pH to between 8 and 9. Additionally, organosulfide is added to target the removal of metals, such as merc ury. The first reaction tank gr avity drains to the second

reaction tank where ferric chloride is added. The effluent from the second reaction tank is sent to one of two

clarifiers. As the water is transferred to the clarifie r, two polymers are added. The polymers aid in coagulation and make the sludge easier to dewater. Hydrochloric acid injected at the effluent of clarifiers for pH control prior to flowing through five sand gravity filters. After sand filters, effluent is sent to storage tanks and then an

ash basin.Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature: ___________________________ Mr. Brown stated that the wastewater treatment system does not rece ive any wastes other then scrubber purge water. The purge flow rate averages 90 gpm over a 24- hour period; however, the wast ewater treatment system is only operated several hours per day. The maximum design flow rate or both trains is 600 gpm.

Mr. Brown stated that Siemens designed the FGD wastew ater treatment system. Mr. Brown stated that there have been no significant changes to the operation of th e FGD wastewater treatment system since the September 2009 site visit. Monroe does not have plans to change the operation of the wastew ater treatment system.

Mr. Brown stated that the wastewater treatment syst em is trying to optimize removals for the following parameters: aluminum, arsenic, chromium, cadmium, c obalt, copper, iron, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver, zinc, molybdenum, TSS, and TDS. I asked Mr. Br own if he could provide the guaranteed performance standards established by Siemens and th e typical pollutant levels in the wa stewater treatment system effluent. [NOTE TO EPA: MR. BROWN PROVIDED THE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION IS CONFIDENTIAL]. Mr. Brown did not know the typical levels in the effluent. Mr. Brown

stated that the state has not set limits for the e ffluent from the wastewater treatment system.

Mr. Brown stated that there are no planned outages for Units 3 and 4 dur ing the summer. However, there may be a planned outage in the spring.

and explained that I wanted to obtain information rega rding the operation of the Me redosia Power Station’s oilfired unit. I asked Ms. Maxwel l how many units burn oil as a fuel. She stated that only one unit uses oil and that this unit is seldom in operation. She stated that the number of days per y ear that this unit is in operation has been decreasing for the past ten years, from 52 days in 1998 to 25 days in 2002. The unit was only in operation 5 days in 2008. Ms. Maxwell stated that eventually they would like to stop using the oil-fired unit.

Ms. Maxwell stated that there are four units at the Meredosia plant. Units 1 and 2 were placed in service in 1948 and 1949, respectively. Unit 3 began commercial operation in 1960. Units 1 through 3 are coal-fired units. Unit 4, the plant’s oil-fired unit, was placed in service in 1975.

Ms. Maxwell stated that the plant uses a mixture of fuel # 6 and fuel # 2, which the plant refers to as fuel #4 (residual fuel oil), in the Unit 4 boiler. Because heavier fu els are difficult to heat to the operating temperatures of the unit, Meredosia fires natural gas during start-up of the oil-fired boiler and then fires fuel # 4 during operation. The oil-fired unit does not opera te using any fuels other than fuel # 4 and natural gas. Ms. Maxwell

stated that there are no other secondar y fuels burned in the coal-fired units.

Ms. Maxwell stated that the oil-fired unit does not generate bottom or fly as h and that there are no wastewater streams associated with this unit other than cooling to wer blowdown. The coal-fired units generate both fly ashNeed to return call by / at/between and . Signature: ___________________________ and bottom ash. Meredosia’s fly ash is collected by ESPs, sluiced with water, and sent it to a pond. The fly ash sluice is combined with filter backwash, demineralizer discharge, waste caustic and waste acid in this pond. Bottom ash sluice is sent to a separa te pond where it is combined with coo ling medium used to cool condensers and other equipment (Note: she could not remember the na me of the coolant). Ms. Maxw ell stated that sulfuric acid is used to adjust the pH of the two ponds. Ms. Maxwell stated Meredosia must keep the ash pond discharge between the pH limits of 6 and 9 and use chemicals when the pH approaches as low as 6.4 or as high as 8.6. Meredosia also has a third pond that has been co vered (i.e., out of service) for many years.

Ms. Maxwell stated that the plant do es not operate any FGD scrubbers; how ever, the coal-fired units operate flue gas conditioning systems. Since Meredosia uses low sulfur coal, they previously added molten sulfur which was sprayed into the air heaters. The molten sulfur adde d negative charge to the fly ash so that it would be collected more readily by the electrostatic precipitat ors. Now, however, Meredo sia adds a mixture called

“ADA” into the air heaters. She stated that this mixture has the same eff ect as the molten sulfur.

Ms. Maxwell stated that Meredosia reci rculates its flue gas to control NOx emissions on the oil-fired unit. Flue gas recirculation means that 20-30 per cent of the flue gas is recirculated back into the burner, which decreases the combustion temperature and the amount of NOx form ed thermally. She stated that their permit requires Meredosia to be under 0.8 lb/(10 6 BTU) for SO 2 and 0.3 lb/(10 6 BTU) for NO

x on a three hour rolling average.