ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

16,

1975

ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY,

Wood

River Station,

Petitioner,

PUB 74-~423

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENU~,

Respondent.

Sheldon 

A, Zabel, attorney for Illinois

Power Company.

Henry

Handzel, Jr.,

attorney for the 

Environmental Protection

Agency.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Dr. Odeil)

On November 15, 1974. the Illinois Pollution Control

Board (Board) received from Illinois Power Company a Petition

for Variance from the 1.0 mg/i boron standard in Rule 203(f) of

Chapter 3 from December 31, 1974, to June 30, 1975, to complete

their research on boron control.

Petitioner owns and operates a fossil-fuel fired electric

power generating station, referred to as the Wood River Station,

near East Alton, Madison County, Illinois. The Wood River Station

consists of five steam elect.ric generating units. Units 1 through

3, which are fired with No~~2 distillate oil, have a combined

capacity of 155 MW. Units 4 and 5 are coal—fired with capacities

of 103 MW and 320 MW, respectively at the present time.

After coal and oil are burned to generate electricity,

the ash (mostly from coal) is sluiced with water to the ash lagoon.

It is retained there to permit the settling of suspended solids.

Longer retention in the lagoon increases settling of suspended

solids, but this also increases the leaching of boron out of the

fly ash. The ash lagoon effluent, which is the subject of this

variance request, is discharged into and flows about 200 feet in

an unnamed tributary of Wood River Creek, and then flows approxi-

mately 3,500 feet in Wood River Creek to the Mississippi River.

The Wood River Station is located at the confluence of Wood River

Creek and the Mississippi River. Since the ash lagoon effluent

is discharged to Wood River Creek, which is an intermittent stream,

the effluent plus limited stream flow must meet the Rule 203(f)

water quality standard of 1.0 mg/i boron. If the effluent dis-

charged directly to the Mississippi River, Rule 408 of Chapter 3

would apply, 

which

includes no limitation for boron.

15—261

—2—

In response to Petitioner’s previous variance request in

PCB 74-9, 12 PCB 81 (April 18, 1974), the Board granted Petitioner

a Variance from Rule 408 of Chapter 3, as it pertained to suspended

solids, until May 30, 1974; from Rule 1002 (project completion

schedule for control of suspended solids); and from Rule 203(f), as

it pertained to boron, until December 31, 1974. The Variance that

was granted from Rule 203(f) for boron in PCB 74-9 was subject to

the following conditions:

“(a) Petitioner’s discharges shall not exceed 16 mg/i

boron in any 24-hour composite sample;

“(b) Petitioner shall submit quarterly reports to the

Agency beginning July 1, 1974. Such reports

shall contain ~information relating to all pro-

gress or lack of progress in research conducted

by Southern Illinois University relating to the

removal of boron from ash lagoon effluent;

“(c) Petitioner shall submit with any request for an

extension of variance an engineering feasibility

report on the diversion of the ash lagoon waste

to the Mississippi River;

“Cd) Petitioner shall submit comments on the feasi-

bility of its boron removal as per its research

program with any request for an extension of this

variance.

On May 29, 1974, Petitioner completed the ash lagoon

extension, which increases the retention time of the effluent and

reduces suspended solids in the effluent. Since May 29, 1974,

total suspended solids have averaged 8 mg/i, which is within the

15 mg/i limit in Rule 408.

Research on boron removal, which was the basis for the

Variance from Rule 203(f) that was granted in PCB 74—9, is still

in progress with Messrs C. David Schmulbach and James A. Cox of

the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Southern Illinois

University, Carbondale. This research lasts until June 1, 1975.

The first and second quarterly research reports from Messrs

Schmulbach and Cox accompanied Petitioner’s current Petition for

Variance. These two reports include the following results:

1. The major source of boron in the lagoon effluent

is the fly ash, The rate of boron removal from

fly ash is very rapid and increases with increas—

ing acidity from pH 10-8 to pH 6-4. “Approximately

50 percent of the boron in fly ash is removed in

the first 15 minutes of contact with the water.

• .

Boron in bottom ash appears to exist in an

inert, non-leachable form. 

. . .

The percentage

removal of boron from fly ash varied from approxi-

mately 55 percent in acid buffered solution to

about 35 percent in basic solution.”

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262

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2. Boron content in the ash lagoon sediment increases

from 450 ppm at the ash sluice inlet to 2,300 ppm

at the lagoon outlet, Therefore, the boron needs

to be removed or be made chemically insoluble be-

fore or soon after it enters the ash lagoon. Boron

is not removed to any significant extent from water

by adsorption on limestone or glauconite.

3. Exposure of fly ash to temperatures of 1,200°Cfor

periods as short as 1 minute causes most of the

boron in the fly ash to be converted to a non-

leachable form, but exposure to fly ash to 800°C

does not convert the boron to a non—leachable form.

“Mixing limestone, CaCO3, with fly ash improves the

extent of conversion of boron to a non-leachable

form at a given temperature and firing time.

CaCO3 added to fly ash to give a weight ratio of 75:1

(fly ash:CaCO3) and fired (at l,2000C) for 1 minute,

or a blend of 100:1 fired for 5 minutes, are optimum.”

4. Limited tests indicate that “boron is fixed when a

coal sample is fired with CaCO3 at 1,200°C.”

5. Research is in progress to evaluate ion exchange

membranes as devices for the removal of boron from

the effluent.

A Recommendation was received from the Environmental

Protection Agency (Agency) on December 6, 1974. They reported that

Petitioner has complied with conditions (a), (b), and (d) of the

boron portion of the Variance granted from Rule 203(f) in PCB 74—9

(quoted above), but the data submitted in regards to condition Cc)

are inadequate as an engineering feasibility report on the diversion

of the ash lagoon waste to the Mississippi River. A sample taken

by the Agency on October 1, 1974, from the discharge of the ash

lagoon contained 10 mg/i boron. This is within the limit of 16

mg/i boron listed in condition (a) of PCB 74-9.

“The Agency believes that Petitibner’s discharge has no

adverse effect on the present condition of the unnamed tributary

of Wood River Creek which received Petitioner’s effluent. Boron is

not harmful to aquatic life in moderate concentrations. Studies have

indicated that the minimum lethal dose of boron affecting minnows

is a concentration in excess of 19,000 mg/i. The waterway in

question here is not a public water supply nor is it used for

irrigation.” The 1.0 mg/i boron level was established in 1972

primarily on evidence that higher levels can harm irrigated crops

(3 PCB 412 and 760); but this water is not used for irrigation.

Effective methods of boron removal from aqueous solutions

are unknown at the present time, It is hoped that the current re-

search at Southern Illinois University that is being done in

cooperation with Petitioner will develop a suitable process for

boron removal. If so, it would be valuable to Petitioner and

other dischargers with similar problems. In view of ,Petitioner’s

15 —263

—4-.

efforts to investigate technology for removal of boron from

aqueous solutions, the Agency recommends that Petitioner be

granted a Variance from Chapter 3, Rule 203(f) as it pertains

to boron, from December 31, 1974, to June 1, 1975. The Agency

mentioned a six-month variance, but then recommended one for only

five months. Since the research is to be completed by June 1,

1975, the Board will grant a Variance to June 30, 1975, to complete

the research and provide more time for Petitioner to finalize future

plans based on the research results.

If a viable boron removal method is developed, a test

facility will be established at the Wood River Station to test the

most promising possibilities on Petitioner’s effluent.

If this research does not result in a suitable 

method for

boron removal from the effluent, Petitioner plans to use one of

several other alternatives for controlling 

the

boron discharge

problem. These include dry collection of the fly ash, direct dis-

charge of ash lagoon effluent to the Mississippi River, and rerouting

the effluent to a “borrow pit” northwest of the plant and then through

twin 60-inch culverts in the levee to the Mississippi River. Any

planning for this latter alternative should insure that the existing

impoundment problem behind the Mississippi River levee is not

aggravated at any time. EEPA v. Alton Box Board Company PCB 73—61,

74—5 and 74-51 (August 29, 1974); and EPA v. Laclede Steel Company

PCJ3 72—425 and 72—505 (November 22, 1974)).

ORDER

IT IS THE ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that

Petitioner is granted a Variance from Chapter 3, Rule 203(f) as

it pertains to boron, from December 31, 1974, to June 30, 1975,

subject to the following conditions:

(a) Petitioner’s discharge shall not exceed 16 mg/l

boron in any 24—hour composite sample;

(b) Petitioner shall continue to submit quarterly

reports to the Agency which were begun July 1,

1974. Such reports shall contain information

relating to all progress or lack of progress

in research conducted by Southern Illinois

University relating to the removal of boron

from ash lagoon effluent;

Cc) Petitioner shall, within 90 days of the grant

of this Variance, submit an Engineering

Feasibility Report on alternative means of

disposal of fly ash, i.e. dry storage of all

ash or diversion of the ash lagoon effluent to

the Mississippi River;

15

—

264

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(d) Any proposals which Petitioner develops to solve

its boron problem should receive review by the

appropriate permitting engineers.

Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order was adopted

on the 

/(d~~

day ~        

1975, by a vote of 

to ~

15—

265