{"id":20275,"date":"2025-07-14T12:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T07:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=20275"},"modified":"2025-07-14T14:34:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T09:04:24","slug":"flue-gas-desulphurisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/flue-gas-desulphurisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) Latest News<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, the Environment Ministry has exempted most coal-fired plants in India from installing Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) systems aimed at reducing sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD)<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/fgd-units-not-mandatory-in-coal-plants-says-expert-panel\/\" target=\"_blank\">Flue Gas Desulphurisation<\/a> (FGD)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a <\/span><b>pollution-control process<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that removes <\/span><b>Sulphur Dioxide (SO\u2082)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the <\/span><b>flue gases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> produced by the combustion of <\/span><b>fossil fuels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, especially <\/span><b>coal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key aim of FGD is to <\/span><b>reduce SO\u2082 emissions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which are major contributors to <\/span><b>acid rain<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>particulate matter pollution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, harming <\/span><b>crops, soil, water bodies, infrastructure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>human health<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FGD systems typically use <\/span><b>limestone (CaCO\u2083)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>lime (CaO)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>ammonia (NH\u2083)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to react with and neutralize SO\u2082 in flue gases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FGD Technology Types<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Injects <\/span><b>limestone or lime<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into the flue gas before it passes through dust collectors.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Wet Limestone Scrubbing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Uses a <\/span><b>slurry of limestone (CaCO\u2083)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to absorb SO\u2082 and convert it into <\/span><b>gypsum (CaSO\u2084\u00b72H\u2082O)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Seawater FGD<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Uses the <\/span><b>alkalinity of seawater<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to neutralise SO\u2082, common in <\/span><b>coastal plants<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with <\/span><b>low installation costs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but limited applicability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recent Policy Changes and Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><b>2015<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, India\u2019s <\/span><b>Environment Ministry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mandated that <\/span><b>all coal-fired thermal power plants<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> must install FGD systems by <\/span><b>2017<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to curb SO\u2082 pollution. There are about <\/span><b>180 such plants<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, comprising <\/span><b>600 individual units<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This exemption decision was based on <\/span><b>scientific studies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> suggesting:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian coal has <\/span><b>low sulphur content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>SO\u2082 levels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> near plants with and without FGDs were <\/span><b>similar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Sulphates<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may have a <\/span><b>cooling effect<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, counteracting global warming.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of now, <\/span><b>only ~8%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of these units have installed FGDs, with <\/span><b>most installations by NTPC (public sector)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The <\/span><b>rest failed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to <\/span><b>vendor shortages<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>high costs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>COVID-related delays<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and an <\/span><b>anticipated rise in power tariffs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/smoke-and-sulphur\/article69807534.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) removes sulphur dioxide (SO\u2082) from exhaust gases in fossil fuel power plants, reducing air pollution and environmental harm. Read more about Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD), Technology Types, Recent Policy Changes, News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,21,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-20275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-flue-gas-desulphurisation","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}