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Calgren Fuel Ethanol Plant |
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Calgren Renewable Fuels, LLC
Pixley, California
Project Description:Calgren contracted with Kleinfelder to assist in both obtaining air quality permits and with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process necessary to obtain project approval. Owners of the Calgren Renewable Fuels, LLC, fuel ethanol plant project cleared a difficult hurdle last year on their way to building one of the first large-scale, dry mill, fuel-grade ethanol production plants in California: successfully obtaining environmental permits.It was tough – but not impossible – to obtain permits to build the Pixley, California, facility while meeting or exceeding federal and state environmental regulatory requirements. Because air quality in some of California’s major metropolitan areas is among the worst in the nation, the state has some of the nation’s most stringent regulations.
The result of Calgren’s arduous permitting process is a fuel ethanol plant that will have some of the lowest emissions and most effective emission controls for such plants in the nation. Use of the ethanol produced at the plant eventually will help the state’s environment through reduced vehicle emissions.
Nearly two and a half years ago, when Calgren contracted with Kleinfelder to assist in both obtaining air quality permits and with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process necessary to obtain project approval, regulatory agencies indicated that the proposed 42 million gallons per year (mmgpy) facility’s permitting process would take about three months. But because local agencies previously had not permitted fuel ethanol plants, it actually took 15 months and at least a dozen redesigns to accomplish the feat for the facility, which is located an hour south of Fresno this extended period the valley was reclassified from a “serious” to “extreme” ozone non-attainment area.
The project’s selected emission controls included processes for grain handling, the cooling tower, regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to control volatile organic chemical (VOC) emissions, process vents from process tanks, dryer and RTO fuel, fugitive emissions from piping and valves, ethanol product loading, and denaturant (natural gasoline) loading. Additional emission controls resulting from the CEQA process included processes for wet cake pad, storage and emissions, odors, and fuel for on-site equipment.
The Calgren/Kleinfelder project team developed a strong blend of patience, flexibility and persistence that was forged in meeting myriad state and federal agencies’ multiple regulatory programs. This strength continues to be called upon well beyond recently re-permitting the Pixley facility for 55 mmgpy and other additional work.
For example, the team currently is assisting in permitting a cogeneration plant next to the Pixley fuel ethanol plant, and soon will be seeking permits for a second fuel ethanol plant near Hanford, California, for which Kleinfelder is preparing the air permit applications and providing technical support for the CEQA environmental impact report.
Calgren and Kleinfelder have shared their knowledge and experience among their colleagues and other clients, particularly owners of three proposed ethanol plants in Nebraska and a plant in Oklahoma. Kleinfelder plans to help the owners permit those plants, plus provide geotechnical work and materials testing.
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