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EPA Proposes Aligning Air Pollution Restrictions on Ethanol Plants; Eases Restrictions on Fuel Ethanol
3 March 2006
Currently, the emissions requirements for facilities that produce ethanol for human consumption are more lenient than those for facilities that produce ethanol for fuel, although the processes are similar.
The EPA has proposed applying the same air permitting requirements for facilities that produce ethanol for fuel or human consumption, but has chosen the higher cap (250 t/year) rather than the lower (100 t/year).
Corn milling facilities that produce fuel have a cap of 100 tons per year of air pollutants before triggering the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting program; corn milling facilities that produce beverage ethanol have a cap of 250 tons per year.
Background. In 1977, President Carter signed Amendments to the Clean Air Act into law. Those amendments established a set of requirements for the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) of air quality in so-called “clean air,” or attainment, areas.
As part of these amendments, the “major emitting facility” definition was added to the CAA. The term “major emitting facility” applied to specific types of stationary sources of air pollutants which emit, or have the potential to emit, 100 tons per year or more of any air pollutant.
The term also establishes a potential to emit a threshold of 250 tons per year or more of any air pollutant for sources which fall outside of the specific sources referred to above.
The source categories established in the above definition have wide applicability under the major New Source Review (NSR) and title V operating permits programs.
The New Source Review program legislated by Congress in the Clean Air Act is a preconstruction review and permitting program applicable to new or modified major stationary sources of air pollutants regulated under the Act. A new source with a potential to emit (PTE) at or above the applicable threshold amount triggers, or is subject to, major NSR.
To determine which threshold is relevant for a particular facility, EPA determines what source category it belongs to and what Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code applies to it. These classifications are based on the source’s primary activity, which is determined by the facility’s principal product(s) or services rendered. If the source falls within one of 27 source categories listed in the New Source Review regulations, then the 100 tons per year threshold applies. Otherwise, the 250 tons per year threshold is applicable.
One of the source categories in this list of 27 source categories for the 100-ton threshold is chemical process plants—which includes establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing fuel ethanol. As a result, the 100 tons per year threshold is currently applicable to dry corn milling operations that produce fuel. The 250 tons per year threshold applies to dry corn milling operations that produce beverage ethanol.
Wet corn milling operations can also produce ethanol, but are primarily engaged in producing starch, syrup, oil, sugar, and by-products, such as gluten feed and meal. For the units at wet corn milling operations engaged in producing the food products mentioned above, these units are classified according to the specific SIC code for wet corn milling and are therefore currently subject to the 250 tons per year threshold when determining major source status under the New Source Review program. If wet corn mills produce ethanol fuel, the 100 ton per year threshold currently applies.
The EPA’s proposal is to remove the taxonomic distinction between plants,wet or dry, that produce essentially the same product. Generally, the difference between ethanol for fuel and ethanol for human consumption is that a small amount of gasoline or solvent is added to the fuel ethanol to make it undrinkable and the process does not use food-grade equipment.
Thresholds for the New Source Review and Title V permitting programs would remain at current levels, which vary from 10 to 100 tons per year depending on the area in which the facility is located.
EPA will accept comment on this proposal for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.
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March 3, 2006 in Emissions, Ethanol, Policy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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