McIlvaine: East Asia to spend $4.8 billion on FGD systems

Power plants in India, China, and other countries of eastern Asia will spend $4.8 billion on flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment in 2013, or 63% of the total worldwide expenditure on FGD systems, according to a recent report by The McIlvaine Company (Northfield, IL). Driving the market in east Asia will be the continued expansion of coal-fired electricity generation in India and China and an ongoing Chinese program to equip new and existing power plants with FGD systems. Because of these factors, China continues to spend more on FGD systems than the rest of the world combined, the report finds. In the United States, the drivers for FGD purchases are more mixed. The low price of natural gas is holding back the construction of new coal-fired capacity, but FGD systems at existing plants are aging, and newer technologies have the capability to control mercury emissions.