GROTON -- We all want clean air and water, but we also want electricity always available from the wall outlet. Those two desires are often at odds with each other. There are no easy answers, just intelligent tradeoffs. Bruce Easom will present the latest technology for making electricity production cleaner than ever at on Sept. 27 at Groton-Dunstable Middle School North, 346 Main St., from 7 to 9 p.m. (refreshments at 6:30 p.m.).
Pollution-control technology development for the power-generation industry typically involves a three-step process. The first is proof-of-concept testing at the bench top scale. Next comes field testing and demonstration at the pilot scale and then finally a full-scale demonstration. Technology development occurs at the intersection of government regulation, power plant operator requirements for affordability and reliability and vendor requirements for minimum sales volumes and profit. Easom will show two examples of taking technologies through this development process. He will also give an overview of the current regulatory environment and on the pushback from power plant operators on issues such as particulate, mercury, sulfur, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide pollutants.
The talk is aimed at interested high-school and advanced middle-school students and is free and open to the public. There will be ample time for open discussion, and Easom will describe career paths in his field.
Easom has 20 years of experience developing and evaluating pollution-control technologies for use in coal and biomass-fired power plants. He has a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a co-inventor on nine U.S. patents related to pollution-control technology. He is currently a self-employed consultant working for Southern Company on a project to reduce the volume of waste water generated by power plant flue gas desulfurization systems.
For information visit www.GDSTEM.org.