PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency expects to obtain lab test results within 60 days on last week’s air quality tests of emissions from Nippon Paper Industries USA’s new $85 million biomass boiler.
“The overall perspective is that it went really well,” Mark Goodin, the agency’s professional engineer, said Monday.
The results of testing at the Ediz Hook papermaking and pulp-making plant will likely be made public at the end of April, Goodin said.
Beginning last Tuesday, samples of exhaust gases were drawn from the boiler stack by workers who climbed up a ladder perched on a platform 87 feet above ground.
They completed testing at about 6 p.m. Thursday, Goodin said.
“The testing firm was able to complete all the [Environmental Protection Agency] runs they needed to without any significant delays or having to retest anything,” Goodin said.
Particulates of all sizes — including tiny nanoparticles and ultrafine particles that have been the focus of concern by North Olympic Peninsula environmental groups — were corralled and are now being tested for the presence of 14 different pollutants, Goodin said.
Residents have expressed concerned about “ultrafine” particles and “nanoparticles,” saying they are laden with toxins, lodge in the lungs and are unregulated because they are smaller than the 2.5-micron size that is regulated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The testing, conducted to determine if Nippon is operating within its five-year air quality permit by complying with certain pollution limits, does not distinguish between smaller and larger particles, Goodin said.
“The test is measuring the entire mass of particulate,” he said Monday.
“It’s measuring the particulates of very large diameter all the way down to particulates with very small diameters, and that includes so-called nanoparticles,” he said.
“We’ll be able to draw some conclusions after we receive a final report from the testing firm,” Goodin said.
“If they don’t meet a standard, we would likely enter into a compliance schedule to get them onboard to achieve compliance, [do] something like that.”
Nippon is footing the bill for the testing.
Mill Manager Steve Johnson said Monday the cost would easily be more than $100,000 but declined to be more specific.
“It’s a lot of money,” Johnson said.
The boiler burns woody biomass including peeled bark, slash, hog fuel, recycled wood-derived fuel, dewatered clarifier sludge, natural gas and diesel, according to the Clean Air Agency’s air operating permit issued to Nippon on Nov. 12.
The plant does not now burn natural gas and uses diesel only to start the boiler, Johnson said.
Pollution created by biomass boilers includes carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde and hydrogen chloride.
The biomass is burned to create steam for the plant and up to 20 megawatts of electricity for sale.
Johnson said last week the electricity being created by the new boiler is being sold mostly to California customers who must use a percentage of “green energy” that includes that created by burning the biomass that Nippon uses to meet their renewable energy requirements.
The old boiler created only steam for the papermaking plant, not electricity for sale.
The new boiler produces up to 225,000 pounds of saturated steam an hour at 900 pounds per square inch of pressure.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
