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Board to consider Roquette variance again
By Steve Dunn/Gate City Managing Editor
Roquette America, Inc.'s request for a variance to allow it to build a new boiler is back on the Board of Adjustment's agenda Tuesday.
On July 12, the board tabled the company's request, and board member Chuck Mitchell asked the company to consider using a different type of technology that could cut the height of the smokestack needed for the project.
The project includes a 350-foot-high smokestack, a 192-foot-high boiler building, a 131-foot-high crusher house and a 116-foot-high scrubber and bag house. The area is zoned M-2, heavy industrial district, which has a maximum 100-foot height allowance.
Under a consent decree with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Roquette America, Inc. must replace three other older boilers by Jan. 31, 2008.
The consent decree was worked out by the Iowa attorney general after the company was cited for allegedly burning petroleum coke blended with its approved coal fuel and producing excessive quantities of sulphur dioxide emissions.
The company said in the consent decree that alleged violations cited by the Iowa DNR “were not knowingly committed in violation of the law.” Further, the company said “that any violations were unintentional.”
Mitchell has asked Roquette America, Inc. to look at using integrated gasification combined cycle technology.
John Thompson, director of the Coal Transition Project for the Clean Air Task Force in Carbondale, Ill., says he believes the three main vendors of integrated gasification combined cycle technology probably wouldn't be interested in the Roquette boiler project due to its small size. Those vendors are Shell, GE and ConocoPhillips, according to Thompson.
However, Siemens, a large multi-national company, recently bought a small company in Germany “that makes a really outstanding gasifier that works well on small plants and accepts a wide range of coal types,” Thompson said.
The gasifier is made by Future Energy, which grew out of a company originally in the old East Germany, and is called the GSP gasifier. Future Energy has a small gasifier going on a refinery in the Czech Republic that is scheduled to start operating in August, according to Thompson.
Some limitations with the integrated gasification combined cycle technology may be relevant to the Keokuk situation, Thompson said.
First, the technology takes more space than plants using the proposed technology for Roquette America, Inc.'s Keokuk plant. Second, plants using the integrated gasification combined cycle technology have a flare, which neighbors may not like, Thompson said.
Nevertheless, plants with integrated gasification combined cycle technology are cleaner on air emissions, produce less solid waste and have shorter stacks, he added.
During the July 12 Board of Adjustment meeting, the company also was asked to provide a computer-aided rendition showing the height of the new boiler building and smokestack set against the surrounding bluff.
Roquette America, Inc. bought its Keokuk facility in 1991. The operation produces corn starches, syrups, sugars, polyols and corn by-products.
On July 12, the board tabled the company's request, and board member Chuck Mitchell asked the company to consider using a different type of technology that could cut the height of the smokestack needed for the project.
The project includes a 350-foot-high smokestack, a 192-foot-high boiler building, a 131-foot-high crusher house and a 116-foot-high scrubber and bag house. The area is zoned M-2, heavy industrial district, which has a maximum 100-foot height allowance.
Under a consent decree with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Roquette America, Inc. must replace three other older boilers by Jan. 31, 2008.
The consent decree was worked out by the Iowa attorney general after the company was cited for allegedly burning petroleum coke blended with its approved coal fuel and producing excessive quantities of sulphur dioxide emissions.
The company said in the consent decree that alleged violations cited by the Iowa DNR “were not knowingly committed in violation of the law.” Further, the company said “that any violations were unintentional.”
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John Thompson, director of the Coal Transition Project for the Clean Air Task Force in Carbondale, Ill., says he believes the three main vendors of integrated gasification combined cycle technology probably wouldn't be interested in the Roquette boiler project due to its small size. Those vendors are Shell, GE and ConocoPhillips, according to Thompson.
However, Siemens, a large multi-national company, recently bought a small company in Germany “that makes a really outstanding gasifier that works well on small plants and accepts a wide range of coal types,” Thompson said.
The gasifier is made by Future Energy, which grew out of a company originally in the old East Germany, and is called the GSP gasifier. Future Energy has a small gasifier going on a refinery in the Czech Republic that is scheduled to start operating in August, according to Thompson.
Some limitations with the integrated gasification combined cycle technology may be relevant to the Keokuk situation, Thompson said.
First, the technology takes more space than plants using the proposed technology for Roquette America, Inc.'s Keokuk plant. Second, plants using the integrated gasification combined cycle technology have a flare, which neighbors may not like, Thompson said.
Nevertheless, plants with integrated gasification combined cycle technology are cleaner on air emissions, produce less solid waste and have shorter stacks, he added.
During the July 12 Board of Adjustment meeting, the company also was asked to provide a computer-aided rendition showing the height of the new boiler building and smokestack set against the surrounding bluff.
Roquette America, Inc. bought its Keokuk facility in 1991. The operation produces corn starches, syrups, sugars, polyols and corn by-products.
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