The Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) owns and operates the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Plant and the Steam Generating Facility, which together constitute the Municipal Waste Combustor Facilities in Portsmouth, Virginia. The steam produced is used to generate electricity and is then routed to various areas of the Naval Shipyard to provide heat for buildings and ships.
SPSA retained SCS Engineers to prepare the application and develop the supporting calculations and documentation necessary to renew the Title V Air Operating Permit issued to the facilities, which are also permitted under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program.
Title V Permit Renewal. SCS Engineers prepared the Title V Permit Renewal Application which detailed the potential emissions generated by the facility. The Renewal Application consisted of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) Form 805 and an emissions inventory that summarized the potential and actual emissions at the site.
Pollutant Emissions Calculations. SCS Engineers calculated the pollutant emission rates for the four combustion trains (boilers) at the Power Plant correlating to three Alternate Operating Scenarios (AOS), which correspond to the three different fuel sources: RDF, coal and No. 2 fuel oil.
SCS Engineers also calculated pollutant emission rates for the other emission sources at the Power Plant, including the coal handling units equipped with fabric filters (baghouses), the coal storage pile equipped with a wet suppression system, the 2,500-kW standby diesel generator, the ash conveyor that transports bottom ash and flyash to the truck load-out area, the lime storage silo equipped with a fabric filter, the 290-hp fire pump diesel engine and the No. 2 fuel oil storage tanks.
Pollutant emission rates were calculated for other emission sources at the RDF Plant as well, including the tipping floor, the bulky waste shredder equipped with a fabric filter (baghouse), the three RDF process lines (conveyors, shredders, sorters, separators), the RDF conveyor used to transport processed waste to the nearby power plant and the fire pump diesel engine and fuel oil storage tanks.
