Nitrogen oxide stack sampling at the U.S. DOE Oak Ridge Y-12 Steam Plant

On November 7, 1997, the EPA proposed a Nitrogen Oxides State Implementation Plan Call (NO{sub x} SIP Call) for 22 states in the Eastern US which included the state of Tennessee. This initial proposal was followed by proposed statewide NO{sub x} budgets in the May 11, 1998, Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. In the development of the NO{sub x} SIP Call, EPA performed a number of air quality analyses and determined that NO{sub x} emissions from Tennessee should be reduced. Industrial boilers, turbines, stationary internal combustion engines, and cement manufacturing are the only non-electric generating unit sources for which reductions are assumed in the budget calculation. Emission reductions are required if specific source heat input capacity is greater than 250 million Btu per hour. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Y-12 Steam Plant consists of four Wickes pulverized coal fired boilers each rated at a maximum heat input capacity of 298 million Btu per hour, and will therefore be impacted by these regulatory actions. Each boiler is equipped with two pulverizing mills. Coal or natural gas or a combination of these two fuels may be fired. This paper provides the results of NO{sub x} emission stack testing conducted June 15--21, 1999, on the Y-12 Steam Plant Boilers 1 and 2. Measurements of oxygen (O{sub 2}), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), and stack gas flow were also performed. Information gained from these stack tests will be used to determine NO{sub x} emission control strategies for the steam plant for compliance with future emission requirements resulting from the NO{sub x} SIP Call