R.E. Burger Power Station

R.E. Burger Power Station was a 568 megawatt (MW), coal power plant located south of Shadyside, Ohio in Belmont County, Ohio. The plant closed in 2011. It was operated by FirstEnergy.

R.E. Burger Power Station
CountryUnited States
LocationMead Township, Belmont County, near Shadyside, Ohio
Coordinates39°54′34″N 80°45′37″W
StatusDecommissioned
Commission dateUnit 1: 1944
Unit 2: 1947
Unit 3: 1950
Units 4–5: 1955
Decommission dateUnits 1–2: 1995
Units 4–5: 2010
Unit 3: 2011
Owner(s)FirstEnergy
Operator(s)FirstEnergy
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Cooling sourceOhio River
Power generation
Nameplate capacity568 MW

History

R.E. Burger was constructed in the 1940s to meet industrial demand for power generation during World War II.[1] Unit 1 went into operation in 1944 and Unit 2 came online in 1947 at a cost of $5 million.[2][3][4] Both units had a capacity of 65 MW.[3] Unit 3, which went into operation in 1950 after two years of construction, had a generating capacity of 100 MW.[5] The unit cost $12 million to construct and was financed from the issuing of Ohio Edison stock by Lehman Brothers.[1][5] Units 4 and 5 started generating electricity in 1955 and each had a generating capacity of 135 MW. The cost to construct both units totaled $43.2 million.[6] The plant is named after R.E. Burger, a former chairman of Ohio Public Service Company and later Ohio Edison.[5]

Environmental mitigation and testing

In 1991, R.E. Burger was an experimental site for clean coal technology by Ohio Edison with sponsorship from the United States Department of Energy. A SOx-NO
x Rox Box (SNRB) developed by Babcock & Wilcox simultaneously removed sulfur dioxide (SO
2), nitrogen oxide (NO
x ), and particulates at the same time in a 5 MW unit.[7] Sorbent Technologies developed and demonstrated a jet-engine filter for pollution control at R.E. Burger in 1994.[8] In that same year, R.E. Burger incinerated refuse-derived fuel in Unit 2 as a test run to see if fuel costs and emissions could be reduced.[9] FirstEnergy assumed ownership of R.E. Burger in 1997 following a merger between Ohio Edison and Centerior Energy.[10] In 2004, an Electro-Catalytic Oxidation (ECO) scrubber, designed by Powerspan to reduce SO
2 and mercury emissions, was tested at R.E. Burger with a generating capacity of 50 MW.[11] FirstEnergy announced in 2007 to install ECO scrubbers to Units 4 and 5 with a planned start-up scheduled for 2011.[12] Between 2006–2010, R.E. Burger was a test site for the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership's (MRCSP) carbon sequestration project. The project tested the potential of capturing carbon dioxide (CO
2) emissions and injecting it into geologic rock acting as a storage well.[13]

Retirement, demolition, and future plans

Ohio Edison shut down Units 1 and 2 in 1995 as the enforcement of the Clean Air Act's 1990 amendments meant that both units were in non-compliance and the cost to retrofit outweighed the benefits.[14][15] FirstEnergy had plans in 2009 to convert R.E. Burger into a biomass plant to remain profitable in the face of cheaper natural gas prices and lower demand for electricity during the Great Recession.[16][17] The costs to convert into a biomass plant was $130 million cheaper compared to installing industrial scrubbers to reduce pollution. Unfortunately, the economics to continue running R.E. Burger remained futile and FirstEnergy closed two units at the end of 2010.[17] The final unit, Unit 3, retired in 2011 due to stricter environmental rules.[2]

Demolition of R.E. Burger began in 2015 after four years of decommissioning.[2] Demolition was completed in July 2016 when the plant's 854 feet (260.3 m) smokestack was imploded using explosive charges.[18] Thailand-based chemical company PTT Global Chemical bought 168 acres of the former remediated R.E. Burger site from FirstEnergy for $13.8 million in 2017 to construct an ethane cracker plant.[19]

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See also

References
  1. "Ohio Edison Company – Lehman Brothers Collection". Harvard Business School. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  2. Young, Jennifer (July 29, 2016). "FirstEnergy Completes Demolition of R.E. Burger Power Station". FirstEnergy. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  3. "New Power Plant To Aid City". The Evening Independent. December 18, 1947. p. 1 & 14. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via https://www.newspapers.com/.
  4. "Sanduskians Attend Dedication Service Of New OPS Turbine". The Sandusky Register. December 19, 1947. p. 11. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via https://www.newspapers.com/.
  5. "Mayors, Press View New Giant Ohio Edison Power Unit at Company's Plant Near Bellaire". The Marion Star. August 1, 1950. p. 4. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via https://www.newspapers.com/.
  6. "Huge Power Plant To Be Dedicated". Akron Beacon Journal. October 21, 1954. p. 52. Retrieved November 30, 2018 – via https://www.newspapers.com/.
  7. Dalton, Stuart M.; Toole-O'Neil, Barbara; Gullett, Brian K.; Drummond, Charles J. (August 1992). "Summary of the 1991 EPRI/EPA/DOE SO2 Control Symposium". Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. 42 (8): 1115. doi:10.1080/10473289.1992.10467057.
  8. Gerdel, Thomas W. (September 22, 1994). "Takeoff Tamers Twinsburg Firm Faces Challenge of Building First Jet-Engine Filter". The Plain Dealer. p. 1C. Retrieved January 18, 2018 – via https://www.newsbank.com/.
  9. Benton, James C. (October 18, 1994). "Discovering Trash's Worth \ Ohio Edison Shreds, Compacts Waste from Medina for Test Run in Belmont Burner". Akron Beacon Journal. p. C1. Retrieved January 18, 2018 – via https://www.newsbank.com/.
  10. "FirstEnergy to Cut More Jobs". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 11, 1997. pp. C-1.
  11. Boyle, Phillip D. (November 2005). "Multi-Pollutant Control Technology for Coal-Fired Power Plants" (PDF). Powerspan Corp. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  12. Kenney, Brad (May 31, 2007). "FirstEnergy To Install Powerspan's Emission Control Technology". IndustryWeek. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  13. Ball, David (January 4, 2011). "Appalachian Basin-R.E. Burger Plant Geologic CO
    2     Sequestration Field Test"     (PDF). Battelle. Ohio EPA. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  14. "Business Briefs". The Plain Dealer. February 26, 1995. p. 5H. Retrieved January 18, 2018 – via https://www.newsbank.com/.
  15. Hamilton, Lisa Ann; Valova, Radina; Rábago, Karl R. (March 2017). "Transition Support Mechanisms for Communities Facing Full or Partial Coal Power Plant Retirement in New York" (PDF). Pace Energy and Climate Center for Environmental Defense Fund. p. 20. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  16. Downing, Bob (April 1, 2009). "FirstEnergy power plant switching to biomass fuel". Akron Beacon Journal. Ohio.com. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  17. Funk, John (November 17, 2010). "FirstEnergy abandons plan to burn wood, will close boilers at R.E. Burger plant". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland.com. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  18. Board, Glynis (July 29, 2016). "Thousands Gather to Witness Smokestack Demolition". West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  19. Funk, John (July 12, 2017). "Ohio ethane cracker plant closer to reality on former FirstEnergy property". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland.com. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
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