## BART Visibility Impact Analysis

Protocol

Sid Richardson Carbon Company, Ltd.
Addis, Louisiana, Plant

Prepared for: Sid Richardson Carbon Company, Ltd.

Fort Worth, Texas

Prepared by:
J. Thomas Bowman, Ph.D., P.E.

June 2013

## CONTEN TS

1. Executive Summary 2. Facility Description

3. Source Parameters and Emission Rates

4. Model Selection 5. Modeling Domain 6. CALMET Analysis 6.1 Meteorological Data 6.2 Geophysical Data 6.3 Preparing Data for CALMET 7. CALPUFF Analysis

8. CALPOST Analysis

## 1. Executive Summary

Overview. The Sid Richardson Carbon & Energy Company (Sid Richardson) retained J. Thomas Bowman (Bowman) to perform a source

- specific Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) modeling analysis using the CALPUFF model for the Sid
Richardson Addis, Louisiana, Plant. Sid Richardson submitted the original BART analysis in 2007 prepared by Environ.

Bowman has been asked to remodel the facility's impact at the Breton NWR using the

current versions of the models and current guidelines. This Protocol is the result of this request. The 2007 analysis calculated impact of the Addis plant at the Caney Creek

Wilderness Area was well below 0.50 delta

- deciviews and was not included as part of

this Protocol.

## 2. Facility Description

The Sid Richardson Addis Plant is a carbon black manufacturing facility (SIC code 2895, NAICS code 325182) located in Addis, Louisiana. The Plant is located west of Louisiana Highway 1 on Sid Richardson Road about 3 kilometers south

- s outhwest of the town of Addis. Figure 2.1 shows the location of the plant in relation to the town of Addis, Highway 1, and the Mississippi River. Figure 2.2 shows an enlarged image of the Addis Plant. Both images were created using Google Earth.



### Figur e 2.1 Addis Site Location

### Figure 2.2 Addis Plant

## 3. Source Parameters and Emission Rates

The source parameters in Table 3.1, Table 3.2 and Table 3.3 and were supplied by Sid Richardson. To be consistent with the 2007 Environ analysis, the speciated e mission rates shown in Table 3.4 were calculated using the same ration of SOA(OC) to PM and PMF to PM as used in the 2007 analysis.

The worst

- case scenario emissions (i.e., permitted emission rates) were used in this analysis. Just like the 2007 analysis, the emissions from certain pieces of equipment that were built outside of the BART eligible period of 1962

- 1977 were not included in the analysis. The excluded equipment in the current analysis is identical to the excluded equipment in the 2007 analysis. The excluded equipment include s R eactor A, Reactor

11 , Dryer A, Dryer 5

, Dryer 6 , and Dryer Exhaust Bagfilter 3 . The emission rates in Table 3.3 reflect the permitted emission rates with the exclusion of the equipment stated

above.

## 4. Model Selection

The current guideline versions of the CALPUFF system of programs will be used. The programs and program versions are as follows:

Main Programs

CALMET 5.8

CALPUFF 5.8

Postprocessors

CALPOST 6.221

PRTMET 4.34

POSTUTIL 1.56

Geophysical Data Prepr ocessors
TERREL 3.684

CTGPROC 2.682

MAKEGEO 2.29

Meteorological Preprocessors

SMERGE 5.57

PXTRACT 4.25

PMERGE 5.32

READ62 5.54

## 5. Modeling Domain

The Modeling Domain is set large enough to ensure that puffs are not elimina ted from the computational grid prematurely. The Modeling Domain extends more than 150 kilometers beyond all sources and receptors. This Domain is cast on a Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC) coordinate system. The Modeling Domain is shown in Figure

5.1. Th e projection parameters and Meteorological Domain coordinates are listed in

Table 5.1 and Table 5.2.



### Figure 5.1 Meteorological Domain

## 6. CALMET Analysis

The CALMET analysis will be conducted in accordance with August 31, 2009,

M emorandum Clarification on EPA

- FLM Recommended Settings for CALMET. The CALMET model will be used to develop the parameters for the three

- dimensional Meteorological Grid. The Meteorological Grid includes meteorological parameters, surface parameters, and terrain elevations for each hour. This three

- dimensional Meteorological Grid will be calculated by CALMET in three steps, as discussed in the following subsections. The technical options that will be used in CALMET are listed in Appendix A, which is a CA LMET input file for January 2001.

Initial Guess Wind Fields. The 36

- km prognostic data for 2002 and 2003 and the 12

- km data for 2001 from the CALMM5 CENRAP data will be used by CALMET for developing the Initial Guess Wind Fields of the 6

- km, three

- dimen sional Meteorological

Grid.

Step 1 Wind Fields. The terrain and surface parameters will be used by CALMET to modify the Initial Guess Wind Fields to develop the Step 1 Wind Fields of the 6

- km,

three

- dimensional Meteorological Grid. The terrain characte r of this area is, in general, gently sloping to flat. The terrain varies from sea level to about 160 meters amsl.

Step 2 Wind Fields. Meteorological observations (surface data, upper air data, precipitation data, and buoy data) will be used by CALME T to modify the Step 1 Wind Fields to develop the Step 2 Wind Fields of the 6

- km, three

- dimensional Meteorological

Grid.



## 6.1 Meteorological Data

CALMM5 Data. The CENRAP CALMM5 data were acquired from Erik Snyder, US EPA Region VI. Extractions of the data will be made for each year for an area that includes the Modeling Domain and all meteorological stations. Upper air substitution files will be created using the nearest CALMM5 node for each upper air station. The substitution

files will be used as i nput to the READ62 program. Figure 6.1 shows the location of the 2001 nodes and Figure 6.2 shows the location of the 2002 and 2003 nodes.

Surface Data. Surface data for 2001, 2002 and 2003 will be used as observations in developing the Step 2 Wind Field s in the CALMET model. The surface data were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina. The data will include all stations having sufficient data for modeling that are located

within 100 kilometers of the meteoro logical modeling domain. Data from a total of 45 surface stations will be used for 2001, 42 for 2002 and 43 for 2003. Table 6.1 is a listing of these surface stations and associated site information. Figure 6.3 depicts the surface

station locations.

Up per Air Data. Upper air data for 2001, 2002 and 2003 will be used as observations in developing the Step 2 Wind Fields in the CALMET model. The upper air data will be downloaded from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Forecast Sys tems Laboratory web site. Four upper air stations are located within 200 kilometers of the meteorological modeling domain and will be used in this analysis.Table 6.2 lists the upper air data stations and locations, and the station locations are

depicted in Figure 6.3.

Precipitation Data. .Precipitation data for 2001, 2002 and 2003 will be used as observations in developing the Step 2 Wind Fields in the CALMET model. The precipitation data were obtained from the NCDC. The precipitation data stations

c onsisted of all stations having sufficient data for modeling that are also located within the meteorological modeling domain. Totals of 34, 35, and 38 stations were used for the precipitation analyses conducted for 2001, 2002, and 2003, respectively. Ta ble 6.3 lists these stations and locations, and Figure 6.4 depicts the station locations.

Buoy Data. .Buoy data for 2001, 2002 and 2003 will be used as observations in developing the Step 2 Wind Fields in the CALMET model. The buoy data were obtained

fro m the National Oceanographic Data Center. The buoy data consisted of two stations. Table 6.4 lists these stations and locations, and Figure 6.4 depicts the station locations.



### Figure 6.1 Location of Nodes From the 2001 CALMM5

Extraction From CENRAP Dat a

### Figure 6.2 Location of Nodes From the 2002 and 2003

CALMM5 Extraction From CENRAP Data

### Figure 6.3 Surface and Upper Air Stations

### Figure 6.4 Precipitation and Buoy Stations

## 6.2 Geophysical Data

L and Use Data. Land Use Data are used to develop the surface characteristic for input to the CALMET model. The best large

- scale land use data sets are the USGS National Land Cover Datasets (NLCD 92), which have a 30

- meter resolution. Data extracted

from these data sets are used as raw data input to the CTGPROC program to calculate surface characteristics for input to the CALMET program. Figure 6.5 shows land use for each grid cell (output from ctgproc.exe and makegeo.exe).

Terrain Data. Terrain data is used by the CALMET model to modify the Initial Guess Wind Fields in developing the Step 1 Wind Fields. USGS 1:250,000 scale Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data are used as the raw data input to the TERREL program to calculate elevations for input to th e CALMET program. Figure 6.5 shows contours based on the elevation of the center of each grid cell (output from terrel.exe).



### Figure 6.5 Land Use and Terrain

## 6.3 Preparing Data for CALMET

SMERGE. The SMERGE program reads multiple surface data files that may be in several different formats, makes any needed units conversion, and writes the combined data to a single file (surf.dat). The surf.dat file is read by CALMET as observations and is used in the modification of the Step 1 Wind Fields in develo ping the Step 2 Wind

Fields.

READ62. The READ62 program reads an upper air data file and a substitution file, extracts soundings, makes any needed units conversion, substitutes for missing or bad
data from the substitution file, and writes the data to a processed data file (*.ua) for each upper air station. The substitution file is an extraction of the nearest CALMM5 node. READ62 is repeated for each upper air file. Any data errors flagged in the READ62 output files are corrected and documented in the upper air list (.lst) files for each station. The processed data files are read by CALMET as observations and are used in the modification of the Step 1 Wind Fields in developing the Step 2 Wind Fields.

PXTRACT and PMERGE. PXTRACT and PMERGE extract data for specific stations and combine the data into a single processed data file (PRECIP.DAT). The processed data file is read by CALMET as observations and is used in the modification of the Step 1 Wind Fields in developing the Step 2 Wind Fields.

CTGP ROC. CTGPROC reads land use data and calculates weighted land use for each grid cell in the modeling domain and writes a processed data file.

TERREL. TERREL reads terrain data, calculates the elevation of the center of each grid cell in the modeling do main, and writes a processed data file.

MAKEGEO. MAKEGEO reads the processed data files from CTGPROC and TERREL. MAKEGEO calculates weighted surface characteristics and writes these characteristics along with the terrain elevations to a processed data file (MAKEGEO.DAT). The processed data file is used by the CALMET model to modify the Initial Guess Wind Fields in developing the Step 1 Wind Fields. Figure 6.3 shows the land use for each grid cell and topographic lines based on the terrain elevation a t the center of each grid cell.



## 6.4 CALMET Options

MREG. The regulatory default option, MREG, will be set to one (1 = required).

NoObs. The NoObs option will be set to zero so that surface and upper air stations are required. Overwater (buoy) data and precipitation data will also be used.

EPA

- FLM Recommended Settings. The major CALMET EPA/FLM Recommended Settings are shown in Table 6.5. All settings will be as required by the Clarification Memorandum of August 31, 2009.

## 7 . CALPUFF Analysis

The CALPUFF model calculates transport and dispersion using the three

- dimensional Meteorological Grid created by CALMET. The technical options that will be used in CALPUFF are listed in Appendix B, which is a CALPUFF input file for 20 01.

The CALPUFF default values for particle size parameters and scavenging coefficients for sulfate and nitrate particles will be used.

Ammonia. As in the 2007 analysis, a constant background ammonia concentration of 3.0 parts per billion (ppb) will be used as input to CALPUFF for calculating chemical transformation using the MESOPUFF II chemical transformation procedure.

Ozone. The hourly ozone files from the 2007 analysis will be used. Monthly average

values were calculated for each month and wi ll be used for missing data. Table 7.1 lists the average ozone values for each month.Receptors. In accordance with EPA

- FLM guidance, the required discrete receptor

locations contained in the NPS database for Class I areas will be used in the CALP UFF analysis. Each receptor provided by this database has an associated terrain height. Table 7.2 shows the receptors for the Breton NWR.

## 8. POSTUTIL and CALPOST AnalysisCALPOST is the CALPUFF modeling system post

- processor that computes the final

modeling results. CALPOST performs averaging and ranking of the concentration or deposition values derived from CALPUFF or POSTUTIL. CALPOST is processed individually for each impact

- of

- interest (e.g., concentrations, visibility impacts, and total deposi tion of sulfur and nitrogen). The technical options that will be used in POSTUTIL are listed in Appendix C, which is a POSTUTIL input file for 2001. The technical options that will be used in CALPOST are listed in Appendix D, which is a CALPOST input file

for 2001.

POSTUTIL. POSTUTIL will be used to re

- compute the HNO 3 /NO 3 concentration partition for the TOTAL (all sources) concentration fields (SO 4 , NO 3 , HNO 3 ; NH 3 ) (MNITRATE = 1). A monthly average of 3.0 parts per billion (ppb) will be used for

ammon ia.

Visibility. CALPOST will be used to predict the impacts that the Project emissions will have at the Breton NWR Class I Area. The CALPOST postprocessor uses the POSTUTIL concentrations to calculate the change in light extinction due to the project

em issions. CALPOST includes several methods to calculate visibility. Following the

EPA

- FLM guidance, the IMPROVE (2006) formulation (MFRH = 4) will be used along with Method 8 (MVISBK = 8), Mode 5 (M8_MODE = 5). Values from the FLAG2010 guidance document will be used for the relative humidity adjustment factors and for the background concentrations for average conditions.

The background conditions and relative humidity factors for Method 8 for the Breton

NWR are from the Federal Land Managers’ Air Qualit y Related Values Workgroup (FLAG), Phase I Report

– Revised (2010). Table 8.1 shows the relative humidity adjustment factors for Breton NWR and Table 8.2 shows the monthly background concentrations for average conditions for Breton NWR.

## Ap pendix A

CALMET Control File (see file Appendix_ABCD.zip)

## Appendix B

CALPUFF Control File (see file Appendix_ABCD.zip)

## Appendix C

POSTUTIL Control File (see file Appendix_ABCD.zip)

## Appendix D

CALPOST Control File (see file Appendix_ABCD.zip)