Tampa Electric has an obligation to serve our half-a-million customers in West Central Florida in a reliable, cost-effective manner. As part of our ongoing responsibility, we have and continue to develop leading-edge technologies to responsibly meet current and future environmental standards and growth needs.
Gypsum is a by-product that is produced at Big Bend Station from two flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubbers. Big Bend’s FGD scrubbers yields commercial grade gypsum at the rate of 60 tons hourly.
The purpose of the scrubbers is to control air emissions from all four generating units at the station. The gypsum by-product that is used to manufacture wallboard which is installed in homes and businesses. With the new scrubber, we are doubling the amount of gypsum produced on an annual basis.
Fly ash is a finely divided material that results from the combustion of coal in Tampa Electric’s Big Bend power plant. After the coal is burned, electrostatic precipitators and bag houses capture the fly ash for beneficial reuse. The fly ash from the Big Bend plant is used in the cement and concrete industries.
Bottom ash is made at Big Bend’s Unit #4. It is a glassy material with a high mineral content valuable to the cement industry.
Three of Big Bend’s units produce slag from the burning of coal. Slag is a hard glassy material with many reuses. Because the material is similar in mineral content to fly ash, it is useful in the manufacturing of cement. It is also very hard. This quality makes it valuable for use as a blasting material to clean ships and other large surfaces. Another beneficial uses is roofing granule on shingles for homes and commercial buildings
Water recycling and beneficial reuse programs in the power stations account for approximately 283,180,000 gallons daily. The approximate beneficial reuse amounts are:
Approximately 2,000,000 gallons daily of Hillsborough County treated sewage effluent is recycled to reduce potable water consumption at Big Bend.
Customers can support the environment by participating in Tampa Electric's Renewable Energy program.
This environmental program invests in solar, landfill gas, and biomass (plant clippings resembling mulch), which offsets the use of coal to generate electricity. Residential and business customers sign up online by purchasing blocks in increments of $5 per month, which are added to the monthly electric bill. Tampa Electric invests the money to support these renewable energy sources and in research and development of other cleaner energy sources.
The Renewable Energy program recently made news in an unlikely place: the Hillsborough Heights Landfill. Tampa Electric partnered with several government agencies and corporations to demonstrate a microturbine, which produces electricity using methane gas as fuel. This unique technology produces enough electricity to power over 13 homes, using a fuel source that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.
Tampa Electric is aggressively minimizing power plant pollution while maximizing reuse of energy byproducts. Flue gas desulfurization (scrubber) systems are reducing sulfur dioxide emissions by 95 percent in the four units of Big Bend Power Station. During the scrubbing process, the coal combustion gases are sprayed with a mixture of water and limestone to form a recyclable byproduct, gypsum, which is used to manufacture wallboard. Tampa Electric recycles other byproducts from coal combustion for use locally in industries such as cement and concrete for construction, roofing shingles, or grit blasting material.
Sulfuric acid, a byproduct from Polk Power Station, is used to help purify water. Polk Power Station is among the nation’s cleanest, most efficient power plants.
“ Energy byproducts are recycled and used as raw materials in the manufacture of better, stronger construction products and to make clean water for all of us to use,” said Elaine Farrington, account manager for Tampa Electric’s combustion byproducts. “The alternative, to put this material in a landfill, is wasteful.”
Tampa Electric is always looking at new solutions, including its environmental programs. It’s all part of the energy equation.
