Nalco Company

[Pro-Life]

As U.S. Congress and EPA Consider New Mercury Removal Standards, Nalco Announces New Service

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/As-US-Congress-and-EPA-pz-2669400157.html?x=0&.v=1

Press Release Source: Nalco Company On Monday March 29, 2010, 9:00 am EDT

NAPERVILLE, Ill., March 29, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Many states are already taking steps to limit mercury discharges, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Congress are considering new federal regulations as well. Nalco (NYSE:NLC - News), providing essential expertise for water, energy and air, has expanded its capability to help industry, especially power generators, meet current and pending regulations by reducing mercury emissions.

Predict Hg(TM) is a new service that allows Nalco's power customers to effectively model their emissions and forecast the expected mercury content by simulating different removal processes.

"Predict Hg uses samples from a customer's own wastewater stream to identify and rank the available chemical and mechanical treatments and identifies the best options to remove mercury from plant wastewater," said Dave Flitman, Nalco Senior Executive Vice President and President Water and Process Services. "This allows the customer to select practical, cost-effective solutions before making capital investments or expensive process changes to meet or prepare for discharge limits."

Using Nalco Predict Hg, a sample is drawn from a customer's Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) wastewater stream and then sent to the Nalco Center of Innovation. There various treatment options are evaluated and the analysis determines the degree of mercury reduction possible, addressing the effectiveness and cost of potential chemical, operational and mechanical methods.

For example, a power plant in Illinois sought to reduce its mercury discharge, but needed to understand the cost of the potential reduction. Nalco evaluated the FGD waste stream, conducted a number of chemical and mechanical evaluations and achieved a 99.7 percent reduction in FGD wastewater mercury concentrations. Also included in the project were budgetary and technical estimates of the cost to further reduce mercury discharge to achieve a 99.9 percent total reduction.

Nalco Predict Hg is a powerful addition to Nalco's metal removal technologies, which includes pre-combustion and coal treatment through the firing process, flue gas capture and re-emission control, and patented treatment technologies that allow customers to reduce mercury wastewater emissions to the low part per trillion levels.