Westar Energy Places SO2 Scrubber System in Operation at Jeffrey Unit-1

Kansas-based Westar Energy has completed and placed in full operation the sulfur dioxide removal scrubber system on the Jeffrey Energy Center’s Unit-1 electricity generator. As a result, the flue gas from the unit is being scrubbed to remove sulfur dioxide emissions.

With the completion of this phase, a whitish plume of water vapor can be seen coming from Unit-1′s stack. The water vapor results from a scrubbing process that uses water and crushed limestone to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) from flue gas caused by burning coal as the heat source for generating electricity.

Construction on the emissions control project began in 2007 and is a major environmental upgrade to the coal-fired baseload plant. Scrubber construction is being undertaken on Jeffrey’s Unit-2 and Unit-3.

When the project is complete, the scrubbers will remove more than 54,000 tons of SO2 or more than 95% of the plant’s SO2 emissions.