By Lori Ehde
Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant is about to install its $1.5 million thermal oxidizer, but that may not prevent the EPA from levying fines for past sins of emission.
According to Agri-Energy manager Rick Serie, the Luverne plant has always kept its emissions well within compliance of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency standards.
But new EPA test methods show ethanol plants have been emitting more volatile organic compounds than first thought.
Among the newly-identified VOCs are formaldehyde and acetic acid, both carcinogens.
While the Minnesota Department of Health says the levels of emissions are too low to pose health risks, the new test methods show most ethanol plants, including Luverne's, have been out of compliance.
"The way the law reads, we're responsible for both known and unknown pollutants," Serie said.
Installation of the new thermal oxidizer will address all concerns by burning emissions before they leave the plant.
Still, the EPA will likely hold plants accountable for previous compliance issues.
The agency may fine all plants found to be over the limit with new test methods, even though previous tests showed they were in compliance.
"We've always been in compliance according to their tests," Serie said. "Now they've changed the test, and we hear that we'll have to pay possible penalties for emissions nobody - not even the agency - knew about."
Serie doesn't know how much Agri-Energy will have to pay, if anything.
Ongoing effort
He said the emissions issue is discouraging because the plant has always gone above and beyond EPA requirements in order to address odor concerns.
"We want to be a good neighbor," he said.
After spending nearly $340,000 on a dryer scrubber and a 175-foot stack, it was determined a better way to eliminate odor would be to install a thermal oxidizer.
It will end a three-year campaign by local members of the Concerned Citizens for Quality of Life to stop ethanol odor in Luverne.
"We're just ecstatic," said Karen Van Wettering of CCQL. "They say it eliminates odor 99.5 percent. There will no longer be a plume. It's very good news."
An MDH study concluded that while "people near the plant could be exposed to VOCs through the air, the levels of these contaminants measured at the site did not exceed" limits set by the state.
The department has, however, committed to an ongoing study of possible health risks of ethanol plant emissions.
"If there's a health concern, I want to be the first to know about it," Serie said. "I work there and live in this community, too."
Oxidizing by July 1
Agri-Energy completed its permitting process for the oxidizer and boiler last week, and blue prints are drawn for construction.
"It's a huge project. It'll require two additions, one for the electrical panel and one to house the boiler."
The oxidizer for Luverne comes from MMT Environmental, a Minneapolis company, and the boiler comes from Victory Energy, Owasso, Okla.
Both should be operating as soon as July 1.
The stack will remain, but it may be shortened so the plant won't have to maintain the aviation light at the top. The steam plume coming out of the stack will be eliminated under most weather conditions by the oxidizer.
Learning curve
Serie said the ethanol industry and everyone involved are still learning, and Agri-Energy is among the early plants establishing a framework for future operation.
When ethanol plants were first built, they were categorized with chemical manufacturing plants and held to tighter restrictions that applied only to very large plants under the Clean Air Act of 1977.
"In 1977, there were no ethanol plants, so they're having a hard time figuring out where to put us," he said.
"Our emissions are closer to what a whiskey plant would be, but instead, we're put into a category with the likes of Dow chemical."
Whiskey plants, which have a nearly identical process to ethanol plants, are subject to less stringent requirements under EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act.
Serie is working with the Minnesota Coalition of Ethanol Plants to deal with the EPA and figure out how to best categorize ethanol plants and address the new emissions.
Agri-Energy started production in 1998. It now employs 29 people full-time with an annual payroll of more than $1 million.
It processes 7 million bushels of corn per year and produces more than 20 million gallons of ethanol annually.