TDEC Approves Praxair Permit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental regulators have approved a permit for a Greene County firm that supplies liquefied carbon dioxide to the beverage industry.
The permit was issued to Praxair Inc. which is located in Midway on the same site as US Nitrogen, which is awaiting a federal review of its new permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Previously Praxair and Yara North America, also located on the same Midway property, were covered by a permit issued to US Nitrogen.
Praxair will be using carbon dioxide, a byproduct of US Nitrogen's ammonium nitrate production. Praxair will liquefy the carbon dioxide and then ship it to its beverage industry customers.
Under the permit when Praxair is not in operation, the carbon dioxide from US Nitrogen will be vented into the atmosphere.
The permit caps the amount of liquefied carbon dioxide the company can produce within any 12 month period to 90,789 tons.
Praxair must maintain logs showing the amount of carbon dioxide gas received from US Nitrogen per month and the amount of liquefied carbon dioxide shipped per month. Those records must be maintained for two years.
Other limits in the permit apply to particulate matter emissions and visible emissions.
The company must also notify TDEC of any change in ownership within 60 days of any change.
Yara's permit, which was also approved recently, limits its annual production of calcium nitrate to 100 tons per year. The company also stated that it will use a a scrubber for emission control.
TDEC spokeswoman Kim Schofinski said a parallel permit for US Nitrogen is currently under review by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. All three permits are technically classified as conditional major operating permits.
Local environmental activist Park Overall has registered her objections to the US Nitrogen permit with the EPA.
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