'Aggressive' decay eats at power-plant scrubbers | The Columbus Dispatch

The new pollution scrubbers at AEP's Conesville plant show unusual signs of corrosion.

[Old School]

So, what is the problem? Just raise the electric rate. We are used to it. Ten years ago I used to get an electric bill. Today it has a consumer charge, a distribution charge, a generation and transmiision charge, a rider A adjustment charge, and a load management charge. It is a joke!

[FreeloaderFred]

This corrosion problem is nothing new. In fact, it is common. One prime example is the trash incinerators that used scrubbers. I'm familiar with incinerator scrubbers having problems around 45 years ago. At that time, they used stainless steel - but the corrosion continued, especially in the areas where the quench water was warm, or there was steam present. Using chemical buffers and antiacid mixtures helped, but there continued to be a major corrosion problem. Coatings, such as Teflon helped, but only if the coating was not breached.
Any engineer familiar with trash incinerator scrubbers could have told the power plant scrubber engineers about the problems, and what would have helped.
Back to the drawing board. Maybe not using the lowest bidder might find competent engineers and better use of materials;.
It is only (the customer's) money.

[FreeloaderFred]

Old School wrote:

So, what is the problem? Just raise the electric rate. We are used to it. Ten years ago I used to get an electric bill. Today it has a consumer charge, a distribution charge, a generation and transmiision charge, a rider A adjustment charge, and a load management charge. It is a joke!

Don't overlook the Bad Management charge!

[Chuck]

What caused the corrosion? The pollution that was going up the stack in the first place. Duh!!!

[DrC Ohio]

It is no surprise that the cost will be passed on to the consumer. It seems like all the utilities don't want to slim down their record breaking profits, so they just pass the cost along. Look for the Ohio Consumer Council for help? Not likely after this last budget when Kasich gave industry a sweetheart deal of cutting the OCC's budget (even though it has nothing to do with GRF).

Spencer- next time mention how many lives the scrubbers have saved by reducing pollution. Yes, the scrubbers cost a bunch, but the benefits out weigh the cost.

[Nana]

Why do we, the customers, have to pay again for these failing? We are not the problem. Go after the company that you bought them from, since they were supposed to last 25 years, and make them pay for the replacement of these scrubbers. Aren't we paying enough for your mistakes!

[onewhoknows]

AEP customers.....bend over.

[Penelope]

Check the spelling on the front page of the internet site. It says scubbers instead of scrubbers.

[Joel]

This is really nothing new. Mix acid and water, and voila - you have corrosion. Ask anyone who lives near salt water. Metal near corrosive salt water or even the mist from the sea will not last 25 years without constant maintenance. Same with the metal in scrubbers that is in contact with the corrosive acid that is formed when you take the sulfur out of the gases. This type of corrosion is a fact of life.

[Wowza]

Well, why doesn't the highest paid employees such as CEO, Vice CEO, and down the line take a cut in pay since it is partly their mistakes on the guesstimates of how long it should have lasted.. or realize profit won't be at record highs.. hmmm .. Capitalism at it's finest.. Rome fell, one day we will too.

[Unrepentant Cynic]

Wowza wrote:

Well, why doesn't the highest paid employees such as CEO, Vice CEO, and down the line take a cut in pay since it is partly their mistakes on the guesstimates of how long it should have lasted.. or realize profit won't be at record highs.. hmmm .. Capitalism at it's finest.. Rome fell, one day we will too.

I don't believe PUBLIC OWNED utilities quite qualify as Capitalism.

[Sharon Columbus]

FreeloaderFred wrote:

<quoted text>
Don't overlook the Bad Management charge!

Good Morning Everyone,

Why wondering IF anyone sees this increase in their electric bill as a surprise???? For decades poor management with ALL the utilities have been re-couped on the backs/pockets of the consumer/customers.

No surprise here: when the bonuses are of gigantic portion and the elderly was making choices whether to pay any utility to buy medication: the powers should be ashamed of themselves. But all are aware: politics has no conscious!

Time for a tent, campfire and then some government entity will tell you "no dice"! Gotta love everyone making a choice about our lives except "us".

[Consumer]

How is that people feel so entitled to cheap energy? Did you know all the convenience of being suckle off the teet of fossil fuels for your computer, latte maker, cell phone, conditioned air, machine-washed clothing, and all your other unnecessary gadgets comes at a price? A price not just to AEP, but to the environment and to your future grandchildren who will no longer have any of these conveniences thanks to your unrestrained use of them today?

Who's fault do you think Peak Oil is? Is that one AEP's as well?

[Hmm]

What happened to all of the money they took from us in the last couple years? Employers need to add some money in our checks for these unexpected cost. Right.

[interesting]

Consumer wrote:

How is that people feel so entitled to cheap energy? Did you know all the convenience of being suckle off the teet of fossil fuels for your computer, latte maker, cell phone, conditioned air, machine-washed clothing, and all your other unnecessary gadgets comes at a price? A price not just to AEP, but to the environment and to your future grandchildren who will no longer have any of these conveniences thanks to your unrestrained use of them today?
Who's fault do you think Peak Oil is? Is that one AEP's as well?

With those comments you must be sitting on a gold mine with no worries about living here and now.

[DouglasJay]

Did this article mention who built the scrubbers? Isn't that the first step?

[Sterling Silver]

I'm sure they went with the cheapest stuff they could find, knowing how AEP has been in the past. You can't spell "cheap" without "aep".

[JurySays]

How about constructing the tanks from tile lined concrete? You could use teflon coated rebar in the concrete tank walls. Another possibility is to divide the process up into many small tanks made of fiberglass or other polymers that can withstand boiling water temperatures.

[Mathew]

Probably made in China.

[Howard Beale]

Well...

Looking at the map...

And understanding the prevailing winds...

I don't see what the problem is?