Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series about the Power Holdings LLC proposed synthetic natural gas plant that has been slated for construction in Jefferson County. Today, comments from company officials indicating their answers to concerns expressed about the plant as well as information on the proposed process and plant formation are highlighted.



By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — As the public comment period to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on a draft air permit for the Power Holdings LLC plant proposed for Jefferson County ends, company officials want to answer concerns expressed at a March 3 public hearing on the project.

Power Holdings CEO Bob Gilpin and vice president Joe Darguzas have updated a Web site that will allow residents to submit questions and receive answers. In addition, Darguzas will be sending a letter to residents in Blissville Township, DuBois, Ashley and Waltonville that addresses some concerns expressed, such as plant water discharge, plant water supply, plant earthquake design, plant lighting, plant employment, plant odors and activity.

Power Holdings announced its intent to construct a synthetic natural gas plant in Jefferson County in 2006. The proposed site is located on Tomahawk Lane in Blissville Township.

“The plant has been designed as a ‘zero liquid discharge facility,’” the letter states. “This means that none of the water brought into the plant and used in any process will be discharged into any local streams or other water system. The only way water leaves the site is in water vapor from cooling towers through evaporation. In addition the plant will be designed to capture, clean and use rainwater that falls on any plant equipment. ... The plant will have sufficient on site storage capacity to meet an extreme rainfall...”

Power Holdings has a contract with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the process water to be used from Rend Lake.

“When it was originally constructed, Rend Lake was designed to supply water for not only human consumption but also for industrial development,” the letter states. “The plant’s contract with IDNR specifically calls for curtailing plant consumption should reduced lake levels ever threaten the lake’s ability to meet the needs of local residents.”

Comments during the IEPA hearing in March questioned the plant being constructed near the Rend Lake fault line.

“The IEPA indicated at the hearing that they would investigate Du Quoin and other fault systems in the area around the plant,” Darguzas states. “However, Power Holdings’ engineers have already looked into this and have specified the plant will be designed to meet all earthquake design requirements. Should an earthquake ever occur; the plant’s equipment will be protected.”

Those who live near the proposed site of the plant have indicated they don’t want their neighborhood or way of life in the rural area to change.

“The bottom line is, it will be a change,” Darguzas said. “But not as bad as many people believe.”

The letter to be sent addresses lighting, odors and plant activity.

“The plant will operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week so lighting for night operations will be necessary,” Darguzas stated. “These lights will face inward to the plant to illuminate the sides of structures and provide a safe level of lighting on plant roadways. Every effort will be made to minimize the glow from the site by ‘down washing’ the building lights and screening the roadway lights to focus only on the roads.”

Comments at the hearing were also made about possible odors from the plant, comparing it to a coal gasification plant in North Dakota.

“The North Dakota facility, built in the 1970s, utilizes different gasification technology and processes lignite coal to make (synthetic natural gas),” Darguzas explained. “Power Holding’s plant will utilize General Electric gasification technology and will process Illinois bituminous coal to make SNG. GE gasification technology has been utilized in many applications around the word for the last 30 years and has never experienced similar odor problems. This is due to the fact that during the GE gasification process, coal is converted into a gas very quickly compared to the slow ‘cooking’ process used in North Dakota.”

By-products of the plant are expected to be removed by truck and rail, estimating 20 to 30 trucks and 15 to 30 rail cars per day to remove the nitrogen, argon, slag and sulfuric acid.

“Power Holdings will work with local highway and road engineers to upgrade all local roads as needed,” Darguzas stated. He added that under terms of the IEPA permits, “we can’t have any outside coal storage, or coal piles.”

While there are many options listed in the IEPA permit to receive coal at the facility, Darguzas said at this time the company doesn’t know for sure which will be used.

“We would prefer an underground slurry,” Darguzas said. “But we don’t know the details yet.”

One of the reasons the details aren’t known is because a coal company partner hasn’t been identified.

“We are in negotiations on a coal partner and can’t report on it at this time,” Gilpin added.

The gasification process, uses a gasifier — a closed vessel where coal slurry is combined with nearly pure oxygen. Slurry is coal turned to powered and mixed with water. The gasifier operates at 1,000 psi and 2500 degrees Fahrenheit to turn the coal into a gas, “with a small percentage leaving the bottom of the gasifier in the form of a glass-like material that can be used in road bed construction and concrete construction,” information from Power Holdings states. “The gas that leaves the gasifiers is cleaned of impurities (particulates, sulfur and mercury) and converted into synthetic natural gas, which is the same as the natural gas used in homes. As part of the gas clean-up processes, high pressure steam is produced, which is used to generate sufficient electric power to operate the entire facility.”

The facility will have six gasifiers, with air separation units located next to them. Tall towers at the center of the site will be Rectisol towers — part of the gas clean up process. Right of the towers are four safety vents which are expected to operate about 1 percent of the time. The campus will also include steam generation, cooling towers and maintenance buildings.

“There are no smoke stacks on this site similar to those one would find at a conventional electric power plant,” information from the company states.

According to Power Holdings, some basic information on the proposed facility is:

The main facility will be on 160 acres on the east side of Tomahawk Lane. There will be a 120 acre transportation center on the west side of the road;

The facility will employ about 250 employees and about 50 people working each shift;

Construction of the facility is expected to take three years with peak construction employment of more than 1,000 people;

Tomahawk Lane and E. DuBois Road are to be upgraded to handle construction and normal operations traffic (about 150 vehicles per day). Large loads during construction will come from Interstate 64 down U.S. 51 to reach Tomahawk Lane;

A rail spur will be constructed to the Canadian National Railroad to handle rail car shipments and deliveries;

All equipment needed for firefighting will be purchased for the site. Facility employees will be trained to handle fire protection. There will be relationships with local fire companies to assist when needed. Any needed training for the volunteers will be provided by the SNG facility so they can provide assistance safely;

Water for operations will be piped from Rend Lake and purified on site to support steam, cooling and the slurry line needs of the facility;

All process water will be treated on site making it a “zero liquid discharge” facility. No process water will be disposed of off site;

A storm water collection pond capable of holding a 24 hour, 5-inch rainfall will be constructed on the site. A study of rain falls in Mt. Vernon indicate the largest 24-hour rainfall is 5 inches;

There will be a connection to the electric transmission system so the small amount of excess power generated at the facility can be dispatched;

Synthetic natural gas will leave the facility by an underground pipeline and connect with the interstate pipeline in Washington County;

Noise at the facility’s fence line is projected to be about 65 decibels, about the level of normal conversation;

About $150 million will be invested in emission control equipment to comply with all federal and state air standards.

Key emissions at the facility are particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic matter, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. According to Power Holdings, particulate matter will be significantly lower than other coal operations as plans are to have coal delivered by a slurry and no coal pile on the ground.

Sulfur dioxide, a contributor to acid rain originates in the sulfur contained in Illinois coal. “The gas clean-up process removes over 99 percent of the sulfur dioxide from the process and immediately converts it into sulfuric acid,” information states. Volatile organic matter can contribute to smog in urban areas and are a source of odor. “The high temperature of the gasification process eliminates most of the VOM’s and additional pollution control equipment reduces these levels even further.”

Nitrogen oxides is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels. “At the facility, there is no combustion of coal in the gasifiers, because this is a chemical process. In addition, all the electricity is produced by steam turbines so again, no NOx is produced. Any small sources present at the facility will use low NOx burners or contain additional pollution control equipment to minimize NOx emissions.”

The biggest air emission controversy at the plant centers around CO2, an extension of a national debate on whether stricter control of emissions is needed on a federal level which in turn would affect the state standards. At this time, the facility design is in line with state and federal CO2 emission standards, according to the IEPA.

“This gas comes from the incomplete combustion of any fossil fuel,” information from Power Holdings states. “Carbon monoxide produced at the facility is controlled through thermal oxidizers on the Rectisol unit.”

A comparison of emissions between a tire plant, such as Continental Tire North America, a synthetic natural gas plant, a coal power plant and a steel plant such as the one in Giant City shows CO2 emissions from both a steel plant and tire plant much higher than a SNG plant, according to information obtained by Power Holdings from the IEPA permits for the plants. The SNG plant emissions are at under 2,000 tons per year; a steel mill at more than 12,000 tons per year; and a coal plant at just under 8,000 tons per year.

Anyone who would like to e-mail Power Holdings LLC may contact the company at mail@powerholdingsllc.com.