The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is taking comment until Dec. 11 on a draft air permit that would allow ethanol maker Aventine Renewable Energy to install two new natural gas-fired boilers at its manufacturing plant in Pekin.
The new boilers will supply steam to existing operations at the plant and for heating. As part of this project, the three existing coal-fired boilers at the plant would be permanently shut down.
“Because of the decreases in emissions that would result from shutting down these existing boilers, the project would not be accompanied by significant net increases in emissions of pollutants that are addressed by the federal rules for Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD), 40 CFR 52.21, and the new boilers would not be subject to permitting under the PSD rules,” the state agency noted.
Aventine operates a plant in Pekin that manufactures ethanol, animal feed and other products from corn. The two new natural gas fired boilers would each have a nominal capacity of 370 million Btu per hour (mmBtu/hr).
Emissions of NOx and carbon monoxide in the boilers will be minimized by the design of the burners in the boilers and by use of good combustion practices. The new boilers will also emit particulate, volatile organic material (VOM) and SO2. The emissions of these pollutants will be minimized as the new boilers will fire natural gas and good combustion practices will be used.
The new boilers will replace three coal-fired boilers, Boilers A, B and C, that currently supply steam for various processes at the plant and for heating.
