On Dec. 30, a public comment period closed on a draft permit approval from the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection that covers the shutdown of a coal-fired boiler at Kentucky State University in Frankfort.
In September 2013, the department’s Division for Air Quality received an application for an initial Conditional Major Permit from Kentucky State University (KSU) for operation of its campus facility. The application includes the removal of the larger coal-fired boiler. The application requests a federally-enforceable operating limit for the remaining coal-fired boiler to be classified as for “limited-use” under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers Area Sources. The application also includes the addition of a natural gas-fired emergency engine.
Existing emissions units are: one coal-fired boiler, 20 MMBtu/hr; and one natural gas-fired boiler, 18 MMBtu/hr. There are also 14 small indirect heat exchangers ranging between 1.2 MMBtu/hr and 3.5 MMBtu/hr. There are eight diesel-fired emergency engines, and six natural gas-fired emergency engines. Insignificant units include 35 small natural gas-fired space heaters, 12 water heaters, coal storage piles, three ceramic kilns, and a natural gas-fired boiler smaller than 1 MMBtu/hr.
There are two options for the limited-use boiler. Either the permittee will limit operation of the boiler to 876 hours per year, or it will calculate a 365-day rolling total of the heat capacity of fuel burned. These calculations will use data that must be provided by measuring devices which must be installed and calibrated prior to March 21, 2014. These calculations will be maintained by an electronic datalogger which must also be installed and calibrated by the same date. The heat capacity limit is based on the heat content of coal used in the most recent stack test, and on the rating of the boiler.
