CFU Baghouse Under Construction
By Jon Ericson, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Jan. 25–CEDAR FALLS — Stretching more than 300 feet into the sky, a crane lifts steel into place five stories above the ground.
At Cedar Falls Utilities, the high elevation work is building a baghouse that will trap particulate matter discharged from its two coal-burning power plants.
Work began in December on reinforcing the existing power plant to accommodate the baghouse. When complete, the baghouse will collect about 98.9 percent of particulates, up from 93 percent without the addition.
CFU will spend $3.3 million on the project and expects it will be completed in May.
As part of the project, the smokestack for Streeter Station No. 6 will be eliminated, with its exhaust redirected to the Streeter Station No. 7 stack and the baghouse.
The baghouse will stretch five stories above the existing boiler plant. Inside it will be 1,000 16-foot-long bags that filter particulate matter from the exhaust gas.
Miron Construction of Neenah, Wis., is serving as general contractor for the project.
“We’ve done some rooftop modification and we’re getting some work done on the stacks to get them ready,” said Ed Schultz, CFU director of operations.
The two coal plants have produced between 25 and 30 percent of power used in Cedar Falls over the past several years. During peak power times, such as hot summer days, the plants provide half of the power in Cedar Falls.
The baghouse will meet new emissions requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Plans had been in place for 30 years to add a baghouse to the plant. However, the plant met existing regulations and it had been used infrequently, so CFU hadn’t made the baghouse a priority.
With natural gas prices higher in recent years, the coal-burning facilities became a more cost effective option than buying power off the grid. The coal plants have been running more and CFU decided to make the investment.
Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1402 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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