Environmental Permitting Overview: Prepared for the Memphis Industrial Fuel Gas Demonstration Plant

摘要

This overview briefly describes the background of the Industrial Fuel Gas Demonstration Program (IFGDP), locates and describes the plant and its processes, and summarizes the existing site environment, the activities required for construction and the expected environmental impacts of the project. The IFGDP will convert 3158 tons per day of high-sulfur eastern bituminous coal into 171 million standard cubic feet (SCF) of industrial fuel gas (IFG) with a heating value of 300 +- 30 Btu per SCF. Most of this gas (approximately 90 percent) will be distributed directly to industrial customers within the Memphis area. The remaining gas will be upgraded to the approximate heating value of natural gas (950 Btu per SCF). This upgraded gas, called subsitute natural gas (SNG), will flow into the existing MLGW gas system. The IFGDP will be located on a peninsula of land near the confluence of the Mississippi River and Lake McKellar within the limits of the City of Memphis, Tennessee. Impacts from construction of the IFGDP will be limited to the displacement of wildlife from the site and pipeline routes, slight increases (less than 9 inches) in maximum flood heights along existing nearby flood protection structures on the south shore of Lake McKellar, temporary disturbances of aquatic species and water quality during dredging operations, removal of vegetation from the site (including wetland species), potential increases in air quality particulate concentrations due to fugitive emissions and an increase in local employment and income. Operational impacts from the IFGDP are expected to occur mainly in the areas of air quality, water quality, and socio-economics. (ERA citation 08:009042)