Trona is a mineral found in large quantities in the United States and is similar to baking soda or soda ash.

It looks like ordinary baking soda, it’s safe to handle, and it’s available in abundance: Trona, a mineral found in large quantities in the United States, has proven to be an effective means of reducing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions for more than 20 years.

When injected into the exhaust gas stream in dry powder form, trona — a naturally occurring, safe mineral — bonds with SO2. The compounded material is then removed from the exhaust gas by existing emissions control equipment and collected with our ash. Test results at the Potomac River Generating Station indicate that trona injection could consistently remove a significant portion of the SO2 from exhaust gas while reducing particulate emissions. Mirant has filed a patent application on our process.

We reported our test results to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, both of which support our approach. For competitive reasons we redacted certain information from the report while preparing a patent application. Upon filing the patent application, we provided unredacted copies of the report to the City of Alexandria City Council and others upon request. A link to the report is below.

More information:

• Background information about trona»
• Trona injection test report»
• Material Safety Data Sheet for trona»
• Mirant documents filed with the Department of Energy»