MaxWest Warns EPA that Air Rules will Hurt Clean Energy

Date: August 6, 2012

Source: News Room

MaxWest Environmental Systems (Sanford, FL), a company that converts biosolids to energy, is arguing in federal appeals court that EPA erred by including its plant in an air toxics rule for sewage sludge incinerators and warning that the consequences of which will discourage clean energy innovation. EPA's sewage sludge incinerator (SSI) maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule is one of a package of rules that includes a boiler air toxics rule, emissions limits for commercial and solid waste incinerators, and a rule defining waste to determine which rule facilities must meet.

In its July 24 opening brief, MaxWest says that its facility, rather than combusting biosolids directly, employs a closed-loop gasification process that converts it into syngas. The syngas is burned cleanly to dry the biosolids without significant emissions and no release of methane. Therefore, its facility should not be compared to or regulated as those that combust biosolids. "No reasonable person would consider 'sludge' to be the same thing as 'syngas.'"

The company argues that EPA only considered two kinds if SSI units when developing the rule, one known as a fluidized bed incinerator (FBI) and another known as the multiple hearth incinerator. The company fears that its gasification process which is a "positive advancement economically and environmentally for POTWs," would not be so economical if regulated under the SSI rule.

The company urges the court to reverse EPA's finding, saying, "The effect of such capricious treatment is that the SSI rule has a chilling effect on the marketplace for innovation in sludge management. It squelches any POTW or private sector impulse to pursue gasification as a sludge-management technique." Even if the court finds that EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to include the facility in the SSI rule, EPA has still failed to adequately explain how doing so "accords the general scheme and purposes" of the both the air law and the Solid Waste Disposal Act, which covers various aspects of the solid waste industry.

To learn more about MaxWest, visit: maxwestenergy.com.

Sign up to receive our free Weekly News Bulletin