Air Pollutant Emissions

Biorefineries, like other industrial facilities, require permits to emit air pollutants. Typically, air emission permits both to begin construction and later to begin operation are required. The permit applications necessitate interpretation of air quality regulations to determine applicability, process designs that ensure emission limits are met (through use of emission control technology or other means), and detailed calculations of estimated air emissions, all of which must be appropriately documented for review by the state air permitting agency and for public record. To help accelerate the process of permitting of new biorefineries for their air emissions, a topic which has received relatively little attention in the research and development community, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory bioenergy air quality team have collected air emission permits for extant first and second generation (corn starch and cellulosic) biorefineries in the contiguous United States. The air permit status is summarized in an attached spreadsheet, which can be searched for specific biorefineries, conversion pathways, feedstocks or fuel products. When available, the permits as issued (in public record) by the states are provided in zip files for each state. The information summarized and the collected permits are accurate as of mid-December, 2016; they are subject to change thereafter so users are recommended to always check for the most current permit status through the state permitting agency.