Drax Group station in the UK. In 1988, Drax became the first power station to invest in the retrofit of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment, making Drax the cleanest coal-fired power station in the UK. This removes at least 90 per cent of the sulfur dioxide (SO2) from emissions. Through retrofitting boosted-over-fire-air (BOFA) technology on all the boilers emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) are being further reduced. At the same time, by-products of the coal combustion and FGD processes are recycled through their further use in the construction industry. In 2012, Drax power station completed a five-year £100 million project – the
Hugo Drax the Drax of the novel, he is implied to be French (as he was portrayed by French actor Michael Lonsdale), although this is never explicitly mentioned. Though Drax lives in California, he resides in a fully imported French château for which "every stone [was] brought from France" – Drax also supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but wasn't allowed to export it from France in a similar manner because the French government wouldn't issue him an export permit for it. Drax portrays himself as an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D-flat major (op. 28)