ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June
22, 1978
UNION CARBIDE CORPORZ~TION,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 78-21
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
On January
31,
1978 Union Carbide Corporation (Carbide)
filed
a Petition for Review of Permit Denial alleging that the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) wrongfully denied its
operating permit application foi certain operations
at its
Robinson,
Illinois facility.
A hearing was held in this matter on
April
13,
1978.
There were no citizen testimony at the hearing,
and the Board has received no public comment on this matter.
A
Stipulation of Fact has been filed before the Board.
Carbide pro-
duces calcined petroleum coke which
is used in the manufacture of
carbon and graphite electrodes for furnaces and lighting devices,
brushes for electric motors and generators,
etc.
The calcined
coke
is produced by heating raw petroleum coke under controlled
conditions,
driving off volatile hydrocarbons and water along
with some entrained coke particles,
After heating to approximately
1400°C,the resultant incandescent
coke is quenched by spraying
water directly onto the coke, which not only cools
the coke but
prevents the formation of surface oxydation.
Quenching results in
a stream of vaporized water and entrained calcined coke particles.
Carbide designed and installed thermal combustion and
settling chambers at a cost of $2.7 million in order to comply
with the limitations of Rule 203(a)
for particulate emissions.
This compliance program was undertaken pursuant to a previous
variance granted by the Board in PCB 73-313 and PCB 75-29,
In
30-529
—2—
March,
1976,
the Agency granted Carbide
a permit to operate
its
calcining kiln until March
1,
1978.
On January
4, 1978,
the
Agency denied Petitioner~sapplication to renew its operating
permit alleging that under Rule 201 the weight of quench water
cannot be considered part of the total process weight.
If the 16,300 lbs,/hr.
of quench water is added to the
40,380 lbs./hr. of raw coke,
a process weight rate
for each kiln
is determined
to be 28.34
tons per hour, allowing under Rule
203(a)
an emission of 15.15 lbs,/hr,
Tests on the exhaust stacks
at Robinson indicated average emissions of 14,67 lbs,/hr., well
within the limits allowed under Rule 203(a)
if the quench water
is considered part of the process weight.
Without the quench
water in the process weight rate, the calculated allowable emission
rate
is 12.91 lbs./hr.
in which case Carbide is in violation of
the regulations.
The issue to be determined by the Board is simply whether
the weight of the quench water utilized by Carbide
in its coke
calcining process
is to be included in determining the process
weight rate,
If the Board determines that issue in favor of the
Agency’s position, Carbide raises the subsequent issue of es—
toppel due to the Agency’s prior acceptance of Carbide~spermit
application and its subsequent denial when no change
in the pro-
cess has occurred,
There appears
to be no question but that the weight of the
raw coke must be included in the process weight for the calcining
process.
As its authority for excluding the quench water from
the process weight rate,
the Agency cites Ceilier Carbon and
Chemical Corporation v. Environmental Protection Agency,
PCB 77—
48
(September 19,
1977), where the ~~rd
stated in an unfortunate
piece of dictum that the weight of quench water should not be in-
cluded.
In addition,
the Agency cites Collier Carbon and Chemical
~
PCB 77-285
(January 20, 1978), alleging this case to be a reaffirmation of
PCB 77—48
(Collier
I)
.
With respect to PCB 77-285
(Collier II),
the Board finds that the issue there was not one of process
weight rate,
but rather a request by Collier that
it he permitted
to deduct from its particulate emissions that portion of the par-
ticulate that is attributable to the quench water,
The Board
denied this request because so little particulate thus generated
found its way to the atmosphere, the effect was de minimis.
Nowhere in Collier
II does the Board affirm the dictum of Collier
I.
With respect to Collier
I,
the Board has held in a previous
~O-530
—3—
case,
United States Steel Corporation
v. EPA, PCB
77-317
(June
22,
1978)
that “the Board finds
that
it no longer agrees with
that holding in Collier Carbon,
PCB
77-48.”
In P03
77-317
adopted earlier today, the Board found “in addition, since USS
will be held liable for
that
part of the cooling medium which
in turn becomes part of the emissions due to the process, and
since this part of
the
cooling medium bears a direct relation-
ship to the amount of emissions, USS must be given credit for the
weight of material thus lost.”
In
that case the cooling medium
was oil, but the Board
finds
that the principle applies here also.
Thus in this case, the weight of
the
cooling medium,
the water,
that
is flashed off
due
to
the
quenching process should be in-
cluded in the process weight rate for the purpose of determining
the allowable emissions.
Since Carbide’s emissions are in compliance with the regula-
tions if the quench water is considered as part of the process
weight and since
we
have found that the quench water flashed off
in this case is part of the process weight,
the Agency was in-
correct in denying Carbide’s permit application for its petroleum
coke calcining operation in
Robinson,
Illinois, for the reasons
stated in its
denial.
This Opinion constitutes
the
findings of fact and conclusion
of law of the Board in
this
matt.er,
ORDER
It is the Order of
the
Pollution Control Board that the
Agency’s denial of Union Carbide Corporation~spermit appli-
cation designated DO 5110042 for its petroleum coke calcining
operation at Robinson, Illinois, be reversed and that the
matter be remanded to
the
Agency for further consideration
consistent with this
Opinion
and Order.
Mr. Werner concurs.
I,
Christan
L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby ce~tifythe above Opinion and Order
were~doptedon the
‘~day ~
1978 by a vote
QistanL.~~$~e
rk
Illinois Pollutio
Control Board
30—531