Analysis of effective factors on technology selection and ranking of nitrogen oxide emission reduction technologies (Case study: Iranian thermal power plants)

Background and purpose: Thermal power plants play a major role in the production of air pollutants with significant consumption of fossil fuels. Sulfur oxides are among these pollutants. Regarding the necessity of reducing pollutants due to combustion of fuel in power plants of Iran this paper proposes a solution to select NOx reduction technology with investment approach in Iranian thermal power plants. Method:In this research, first with the extensive knowledge of research conducted in this field, the existing technologies in the world and also the most important criteria effective in their effectiveness have been identified and in the next step in order to adapt these criteria to Iran's conditions, from Fuzzy Delphi technique was used to finalize the criteria. In order to weigh the criteria and then rank the existing technologies, the new SECA ranking technique is used. Finding: . The results showed that IFGR technology, OFA, Flameless Combustion, LNB and FR(Fuel reburning) were the first to fifth priority of technology selection, respectively. Discussion and Conclusions: Together, these technology assessments will help create a more environmentally friendly and sustainable environment and make the ecological systems less vulnerable.