Sulfuric Acid Makers Agree to Scrub Air Pollution

Chemtrade Logistics, Chemtrade Refinery Services and Marsulex are expected to eliminate more than 3,000 tons of harmful emissions annually from six production plants in five states, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced today.

The production plants covered in the settlement are in Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Making sulfuric acid at the Marsulex plant (Photo courtesy Marsulex)

The settlement agreement, called a consent decree, was lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. It is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.

The government’s complaint alleges that Chemtrade and Marsulex made modifications to their plants which increased emissions of sulfur dioxide without first obtaining pre-construction permits and installing pollution control equipment as required by the Clean Air Act.

"The companies are expected to reduce harmful air pollution by an estimated 3,000 tons per year, which is well over half of their annual emissions," said Granta Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Today’s settlement will improve air quality for millions of people."

Sulfuric acid has many applications and is one of the top products of the chemical industry. Principal uses include ore processing, fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing and chemical synthesis.

Chemtrade’s and Marsulex’s plants produce sulfuric acid by burning sulfur or used sulfuric acid, thereby creating sulfur dioxide, which poses a danger to children, the elderly and people with heart and lung conditions.

Between January 2010 and January 2013, at its four production facilities in Beaumont, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Riverton, Wyoming, Chemtrade will upgrade existing pollution control equipment called scrubbers to meet new, lower emission limits for sulfur dioxide.

At its facility in Oregon, Ohio, Marsulex will improve chemical processing equipment that will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions no later than July 2011.

Also by July 2011, Marsulex will install a new scrubber at Chemtrade’s sulfuric acid plant in Cairo, Ohio, to meet lower sulfur dioxide limits.

This settlement is the third nationwide compliance agreement in a Clean Air Act initiative under which the Justice Department and EPA intend to reach similar agreements with other sulfuric acid manufacturers.

"This settlement is the product of our sustained effort to bring all sulfuric acid manufacturers into compliance with the Clean Air Act," said Michael Guzman, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division.

The first and second nationwide sulfuric acid compliance agreements were announced in 2007 with Rhodia Inc. and Dupont. As a result of the three settlements, this initiative has now secured pollution controls at 20 plants and is expected to eliminate a combined total of 35,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions per year.

"We are pleased that the cooperative effort among us, our state counterparts, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the defendants resulted in this victory for the environment," Guzman said.

The states of Louisiana, Ohio and Oklahoma, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe joined the federal government in the agreement. Of the total penalty, $460,000 will be paid to the federal government and $240,000 will be paid to the three states.

In Ohio, part of the money will be used to fund a clean diesel school bus project and a tree planting project.

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