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Alcoa Primary Metals - Intalco Works
- Name of the facility:
Alcoa Primary Metals - Intalco Works
- Location:
Northwest Whatcom County, approximately five miles west of Ferndale, Washington
- Distance from the US/Canada border:
- Type/size of the facility:
The Alcoa Intalco Works is a primary aluminum smelter which uses the
Hall-Heroult process to produce elemental aluminum from alumina (aluminum
oxide) in 720 electrolytic cells called pots. The facility is a
side-worked prebake plant with three potlines in six potroom buildings.
The facility is currently limited by their air permit to a production
rate of 307,000 tons per year (tpy) of aluminum. Alcoa proposes to
increase production to 322,000 tpy of aluminum by increasing the
electric current sent to the pots from 143 kiloamperes (kA) to 147 kA.
No modification of the aluminum production equipment will be required.
Alcoa proposes to add a new conveyor system to blend low sulfur coke
into the anode production process so that sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions
will not increase despite the increase in production.
- Source of emissions:
The proposed modification will not add new emission sources.
Emissions will increase from existing sources as the production rate
increases. The facility has many individual emission sources which
can be grouped into eight process units: general facility, green
carbon, baked carbon, anode rodding, potlines, metal products,
ancillary equipment and maintenance.
- Type of fuel:
- & 8. Type and quantity of emissions and emission control technology:
| Pollutant |
Past Actual
Emissions
(1999 - 2000)
(tpy) |
Future
Potential
Emissions
(tpy) |
Net Emissions
Increase
(tpy) |
Emission
Control
Technology |
Particulate
Matter <=10æm
(PM-10) |
712 |
965 |
253 |
Dry alumina scrubbers & wet roof scrubbers |
Sulfur dioxide
(SO2) |
4981 |
4981 |
0 |
Low sulfur coke blending |
Nitrogen oxides
(NOx) |
133 |
140 |
7 |
Use of natural gas, good combustion practice, low NOx burners |
Carbon dioxide
(CO2) |
34,157 |
35,826 |
1669 |
Proper cell operation and current efficiency optimization |
Volatile organic compounds
(VOC) |
108 |
115 |
7 |
Good operation practices |
Lead
(Pb) |
0.23 |
0.24 |
0.01 |
Same as for PM-10 |
Total Fluorides
(TF) |
136 |
211 |
75 |
Same as for PM-10 |
Sulfuric acid mist
(H2SO4) |
10 |
11 |
1 |
Sulfur limit in pitch used in anodes |
- Date permit application received:
Original application - June 26, 2002
Revision - September 13, 2002
- Stack height and diameter:
No new stacks are associated with this modification. The
many individual emission sources at this facility were
consolidated for air quality modeling purposes and modeled
as 27 point sources, 6 line sources and 8 volume sources.
Stack heights for the largest emission sources ranged from
16 to 25 meters.
- Permit agency's contact name, address, telephone number:
State of Washington Department of Ecology
Air Quality Program
Attn: Mr. Bernard Brady
P.O. Box 47600
Olympia, Washington 98504-7600
(360) 407-6803
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