Qualifying oxy-coal plants for minor source status.
Report identifies technologies needed to be implemented to achieve minor source status at full scale.

Obtaining air emissions permits is a major task associated with deployment of a new coal-fired power plant. If the plant can be shown to be a minor source of all criteria pollutants (a class into which many small industrial facilities fall), the time required to prepare the air emissions permit application, review the application, and issue the permit may be reduced by a year or more. In addition, minor source permits commonly do not require periodic renewal.

A recent EPRI report assesses the extent to which anticipated full-scale (800-MWe, gross) oxy-coal power plants might meet “near-zero” emissions proposed by several organizations and qualify as a “minor source” for the purposes of air emissions permitting. The report, Prospects of Oxy-coal Steam-Electric Power Plants Achieving “Minor Source” Status for Air Emissions Permitting (1017514), describes what to anticipate in emissions from oxy-coal power plants and identifies the technologies needed to achieve minor source status at full scale. For more information, contact David Thimsen (dthimsen@epri.com, 651-766-8826) or John Wheeldon (jowheeld@epri.com, 205-670-5857).