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Coal-Fired Boiler Startup Reason for Black Smoke

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 09:01 CDT

Jun. 30--CHAMPAIGN -- The black smoke rising from the Abbott Power Plant stacks Wednesday morning was part of a startup process for one of its boilers.

A coal-fired boiler was taken offline for mechanical repairs, said Bob Hannah, associate director of facilities planning and programs who oversees the power plant on the University of Illinois campus.

During startup, the pollution control device on the boiler is not turned on until the equipment warms up enough so any accumulated gases will flow out of the smokestacks, which could take a few hours, Hannah said. He said the startup procedure is a safety measure, because an electrical charge from the pollution control device could ignite the gases and cause an explosion.

A spokeswoman for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said additional emissions are allowed during startup and shutdown of a boiler, and they are not a violation of the power plant's operating permit.

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Source: The News-Gazette

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