AEP continuing to work on dust, other problems with scrubbers
By PAUL GIANNAMOREBRILLIANT - American Electric Power acknowledged it's still learning and making changes in the operations serving its new coal scrubbers at the Cardinal Plant and officials encouraged residents to continue working with the utility to be sure dust and other problems are improved.
Doug Shearn, plant manager at the Cardinal power plant, and other officials led a public meeting at Buckeye North Middle School Monday evening with about 40 Brilliant-area residents in attendance.
It was the second public meeting to go over issues with dust and smells residents associate with the scrubbers. The first meeting was held in early summer.
Shearn said a number of changes have been made as a result of that meeting and testing and monitoring that has been ongoing since midsummer. The good news: Dust monitors show there is less dust in the air, in general, even through the late summer dry period.
However, Shearn emphasized, "We obviously are not done. We still have more work to do."
Shearn said changes have been made in how the plant handles limestone, which is crushed and injected into the scrubbers to help remove sulfur dioxide from the coal-fired power plant's exhaust, as well as the handling of gypsum, which is the byproduct of the scrubbing process.
Shearn said limestone is unloaded from barges using a clamshell shovel that then dumps it into a hopper and it's taken by conveyor to a storage area. He said dust suppression systems have been improved, as has the telescoping chute that drops the limestone into storage piles. The modifications allow the chute to get down closer to the top of the pile, minimizing wind carrying limestone dust. Further, he said, the power plant doesn't try to unload limestone during high wind conditions. Cardinal also is experimenting with buying larger pieces of limestone, which have less dust associated with them. The hopper is being redesigned with different wind baffles, also to reduce dust.
Gypsum, he said, is either loaded onto barges for transport to wallboard plants or taken to the nearby dedicated AEP landfill. He said with the downturn in the economy affecting housing, the market for gypsum isn't what the utility had anticipated when constructing the scrubbers, so more is going by truck to the landfill. Shearn said crews have learned more about how to load less into trucks and to balance the loads to prevent spills and dust. He said Wells Township has patched potholes, reducing bumpiness on the trucks' route, and changes are being made at the landfill to keep gypsum from spreading in the wind.
As for complaints about coal ash from the plant, he said some samples taken in the village have shown ash content, but the power plant expects to offer more of the ash for road treatment to local governments this winter on higher demand anticipated by salt shortages and high road salt costs.
Shearn said the scrubbers have allowed a major change in the mix of coal coming into the power plant, which is good for the local economy and inconvenient for local residents. The plant used to get 85 percent of its coal delivered by barge from out of the region with few truck deliveries. Now, he said, the scrubbers have enabled the plant to use larger amounts of local, high-sulfur content coal. About 50 percent of Cardinal's coal is now delivered by truck.
"That is a factor, but bringing in local coal hopefully has more positives than negatives," Shearn said. "It's up to each individual to decide where we are for them."
Chuck Shell of Shell Engineering, an environmental monitoring company that focuses on particulates in the air, found Cardinal not only is below standards for tiny particles, called PM-10s, but also is below the tight PM-10 standard even when all sizes of dust are considered. Shell has three monitoring stations between the plant and Brilliant, two in Brilliant and one at the plant's landfill in the hills west of Brilliant, he said. The dust trend, according to Shell's data, shows less dust in the air now than there was in early summer. He said ammonia sampling found very small amounts in the air, less than could be detected by the human sense of smell. Ammonia is injected as part of the air pollution control.
Shearn said samples have been taken at 13 residences in Brilliant and found some coal and limestone dust, ash and gypsum, along with a variety of other substances, including three types of mold, one of which he said is dark and resembles coal dust when run over with a lawnmower. A resident confirmed Shearn's statement and said he had thought the mold was coal dust until tests were run.
Shearn said two samples were clearly associated with the new power plant pollution control equipment and changes are being made.
"Anything we can learn together that will make us more adept, with more information we can to solve the problem" is of value, he said, advising residents who suspect problems associated with dust from the power plant to call as soon as possible when the problem is seen so real-time data can be gathered. He also said the power company would continue to test at residences at the residents' request to gather more data.
Residents who see dust plumes or suspect other problems should call Cardinal immediately at (740) 598-4164 and push the 9 key when the electronic answering system takes the call to speak to a plant representative right away.
Residents asked questions about potential health effects, as well as the third scrubber system being installed at the No. 3 unit, the one furthest south of Brilliant. The plan there is to use the existing cooling tower to vent the scrubbed exhaust instead of building another tall stack, as was done next to Units 1 and 2. Those scrubbers have been on line since December and March, Shearn said.
The idea of using the cooling tower as the exhaust stack comes from Europe, where Shearn said the Germans have been using the technology for scrubbers for a number of years.
Shearn said the concept is that the cooling tower takes in a large volume of air and the scrubber stream will be a small component of what comes out of the top of the tower. He told residents he would get information on where the system is used in Europe and would make that available through the Wells Township trustees.
The trustees also will have the data from sampling and monitoring available for public viewing later this week, according to Trustee John Goosman.
Residents also discussed seeing coal dust from Ohio American Energy's coal prep plant at New Alexandria, a few miles west of Cardinal. An Ohio American representative at the meeting said changes are being made there to address dust on conveyors and from trucks.
