DEP Issues Air Plan Approval for Coke Plant

“This new power plant will be built on the old Bethlehem 33 Mine site and use 750,000 gallons of water coming from the abandoned mine that normally would have to treated for its acidic discharge,” Bowman says. “The project will create more than 1,000 local jobs to build one of the first new coke plants in western Pennsylvania in more than 75 years.”

The facility is designed to process 2.55 million tons of coal into 1.7 million tons of metallurgical coke each year. The plant also will produce 165 megawatts of electricity by recovering the heat from exhaust gases created during processing. Coke, made by baking coal at high temperatures, is a key ingredient in making steel.

The coke oven batteries are designed to be under a constant negative pressure at all times, minimizing fugitive emissions from charging and pushing, according to a release from the Pennsylvania DEP. The proposed facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art air pollution control equipment. Sulfur dioxide and particulate matter will be controlled using a dry limestone scrubber and baghouse to capture emissions.

To further protect public health and safety, DEP is requiring Cambria Coke to install a carbon injection system to reduce mercury emissions from the proposed rate of 538 pounds per year to 47 pounds per year -- a reduction of more than 93 percent. Additionally, DEP is requiring a continuous emission sampling system to measure mercury emissions.

The $400 million proposed plant would employ as many as 1,000 people during construction and result in roughly 150 permanent jobs once coke production begins. In addition, about 500 jobs are anticipated to be created to mine the coal necessary for the coke production.

For more information on air quality, visit DEP’s Web site at www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword: “DEP Air Quality.”