Lackawanna Clean Energy (LCE) will be designed, built and operated to ensure optimal production efficiency with minimal impact on the environment. LCE will incorporate advanced systems, technologies, and production processes. The LCE plant will be operated to meet or exceed all applicable environmental laws, rules and regulations.
The LCE Environmental Stewardship motto is “Think Globally and Act Locally”, and the LCE plant will do so because the decarbonization of petcoke into natural gas through the gasification process is by far the most environmentally-responsible use of petcoke.
Specific examples of the LCE project Environmental Stewardship commitment include:
-
The air, water and solids, emissions are far less than any other use of petcoke:
- Air emissions- all regulated pollutants are orders of magnitude less, and unregulated Greenhouse Gas emissions will also be reduced substantially, when compared to the burning of petcoke directly to generate electricity or to manufacture cement.
- Water consumption and discharge quality– LCE's water consumption is at least 20% less than water consumed when petcoke is burned to generate electricity. The water discharged from LCE will meet all New York State and Federal water quality specifications.
- Solids emissions – when compared to using petcoke to generate electricity (a primary use of petcoke today), the solids input and output emissions are both substantially lower, unless the electrical plant does not capture sulfur at all. This is because a petcoke electrical generating plant captures the sulfur with imported solid limestone and produces gypsum; LCE will recover the sulfur directly as elemental sulfur.
- The petcoke receiving, handling, and storage facilities will be enclosed to the extent possible, and will be equipped with dust collection systems to minimize particulates inside and outside the buildings.
- Waste heat will be recovered and used to generate electricity for use in the plant.
- LCE will demonstrate GHG reductions through incorporation of CO2 capture technology from the first day of operation. In almost all carbon capture and carbon storage or reuse analyses, the carbon capture portion is about 50% of the required investment. This prohibitive cost has delayed development of commercial-scale carbon management strategies.
- LCE will provide a unique opportunity for NYS to be a leader in the environmentally responsible management of CO2, as the LCE plant gas cleaning system will provide a high-purity stream of CO2 for further use.
It is LCE’s goal to be part of the GHG solution for the State of New York. LCE has been working with, and will continue to work with, NYSDEC and NYSERDA in the development of future State of New York GHG regulations. LCE will build GHG management into the project from the beginning. Examples of LCE’s GHG management efforts include:
- Reducing GHG emissions when compared to current natural gas and petcoke supply and usage. Analysis of the current GHG emissions from: (i) producing natural gas at its source; (ii) delivering natural gas to the Western New York area; (iii) transporting petcoke to its end-users; and (iv) burning petcoke in the cement and power industries clearly illustrates that LCE will substantially reduce GHG emissions.
- In October 2007, LCE was selected by the New York State Energy Resource and Development Agency (NYSERDA), the primary agency in New York State responsible for CO2 studies to jointly pursue an analysis of the regulatory framework, permitting of CO2 pipeline and storage, and the technical issues associated with a CO2 geosequestration management plan.
- LCE is examining all methods of GHG reduction, and will comply with all NYS and Federal regulations.
|
