New Energy Corp. - Executive Summary |
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1. Accidental release prevention and emergency policies. At New Energy Corp. we utilize chorine solely for odor control. Chlorine is considered hazardous by the EPA and must be handled with caution. It is our policy to adhere to all applicable Federal and state regulations. Our emergency response program is based on an established contingency plan. This plan includes notifications for onsite personnel and offsite local fire and police authorities. 2. The stationary source and regulated substances handled. This facility produces fuel grade alcohol using as feed stock No. 2 yellow dent shelled whole corn. Byproducts include distillers dried grains and solubles that are utilized as animal feedstock and carbon dioxide that is used in the beverage industry. The facility design is based on grinding corn, mashing the ground material to a fermentable sugar stream by conventional technology using enzymes for the hydrolysis. The saccharified mash is fermented in one of 16 batch f ermenters. On completion of the fermentation step, the spent mash is transferred to a continuous distillation train in which the wet alcohol is separated from the mash and then redistilled for removal of water. The essentially water free alcohol product is collected and stored. The column bottoms (stillage), containing water and the nonvolatile residue is separated into liquid and solid fractions by centrifugation. The liquid product containing most of the soluble material is concentrated in a vapor recompression evaporator and recombined with the insoluble fraction for final drying. The regulated substance handled at this facility is chlorine. It is in the drying process that the chlorine gas is utilized. It is injected into each of the five dryer's air scrubber exhaust stacks to reduce the odorous compounds. Chlorine is delivered by truck in 1-ton cylinders (tanks). The chlorine cylinder system is isolated in its own building near the drying process area. The maximum amou nt of chlorine stored on-site is 8,000 pounds. 3. The worst-case release scenario and the alternative release scenario, including administrative controls and mitigation measures to limit the distances for each reported scenario. Worst-Case Scenario - Two one-ton cylinders are connected to the process at one time. A complete release of this amount would make the distance to endpoint 1.30 miles. Alternative Scenario - A break in the > -inch tubing that directs chlorine gas from the vapor space of the one-ton tank to the dryer chlorination system. A release of this magnitude would make the distance to endpoint 0.10 miles. 4. The general accidental release prevention program and the specific prevention steps. The chlorine process at this facility meets the requirements of OSHA's Process Safety Management Program. The key elements of this program are process safety information, process hazard analysis, operating procedures, training, mechanical integrity, management of change, p re-start up review, compliance audits, incident investigation, employee participation, hot work permits, and contractors. The safety system includes a chlorine detection alarm that is activated in the event of a release. 5. Five-year accident history. There was one accidental chlorine release on April 20, 1999. It lasted approximately 15 seconds and released less than 1 pound of chlorine. Facility staff was changing out cylinders and one insufficiently closed valve released chlorine gas. The employee was taken to Center for Business Health for treatment. There were no other onsite or offsite impacts. Offsite responders were not notified. 6. The emergency response program. Our emergency response program is a well-established contingency plan. It was developed to cover a wide range of environmental, health and safety situations including the chlorine process. We have distributed this plan to local agencies as well as the local hospital. Employee training of the conting ency plan is conducted periodically. 7. Planned changes to improve safety. The chlorine system will continue to be an element of our OSHA Process Safety Management Program. Our minimal accident history attests to the fact that we handle the chlorine with extreme caution. An ongoing project is to find a less hazardous material or technology to replace the chlorine odor control system that would satisfy the local community. This would be a better resolution and would eliminate the facility from falling under the RMP regulation. |