U.S. Gypsum's East Chicago plant is the first facility to produce all of its wallboard from FGD gypsum. In 1992 the Pure Air project received an Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers and in 1993 it received Power magazine's Powerplant Award. In 1996, Georgia Power received a Plant Food Permit from the State of Georgia that allows the unrestricted sale of ash-free gypsum from the Yates project for agricultural purposes. This market exceeds 1 million tons per year in Georgia alone. The process is designed specifically to take advantage of the benefits of organic acid enhanced absorption by using a low concentration of formic acid additive in the scrubbing liquid.
Formic acid acts as a buffer in the absorber.
These tests also demonstrated the benefits of formic acid enhanced operation. For more details on all three projects please see the new Topical Report Number 13 now available on the Energy Department's Federal Energy Technology Center Web Site.