FGD at Aberthaw

The UK's first seawater FGD plant

In January 2009 construction of the world's first seawater Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant was completed at Aberthaw Power Station. The FGD plant will cut Aberthaw's sulphur dioxide emissions by up to 95%.

Building the plant was a hugely complicated piece of engineering, particularly as we had to make sure it didn't disrupt the power station's operations. Among other challenges, it involved excavating and filling a large reinforced concrete treatment 'pond', which is more than twice the length and seven times the depth of an Olympic swimming pool and with a capacity of five million gallons.

The technology

FGD technology limits the amount of SO₂ released into the atmosphere when coal is burnt as part of the generation process and is a key part of our commitment to improved environmental performance. In this case, the technology uses the seawater discharged from Aberthaw's existing cooling water system to convert sulphur dioxide to sodium sulphate and calcium sulphate, both of which occur naturally in the sea.