Recently, a reporter said that an asphalt plant in Berkeley County had applied for a permit to release more pollution into the air. Allmine Paving LLC applied to the agency's Division of Air Quality to modify its permit at the Tabler Station Business Park.

The state has made a preliminary determination to issue the permit after finding that all state and federal air-quality requirements will be met by the proposed modification.

A public meeting may be held if the director of the Division of Air Quality determines that significant public interest has been expressed in writing, or when the director deems it appropriate, the agency said.

If the permit is issued, the company will release additional amounts of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen and total hazardous air pollutants, the DEP said. But the amount of particulate matter would decrease, the agency said.

The proposed increase in pollutants, measured in tons per year, is as follows:
• Oxides of nitrogen, 0.62 tons per year
• Sulfur dioxide, 0.26 tons per year
• Carbon monoxide, 0.83 tons per year
• Volatile organic compounds, 3.76 tons per year
• Total hazardous air pollutants, 0.90 tons per year

The proposed decrease in particulate matter would be less than 10 microns, or 0.41 tons per year.

The DEP said in its public notice that the Division of Air Quality's permitting process is to make a preliminary determination if the proposed modification will meet all state and federal air quality requirements.

The air pollution is an important parameter of an asphalt plant. The key to lower the pollution is to choose the right dust collecting system. The dust collecting can be divided as wet-type and dry-type.

Dry-type can be applied to most of the machines, especially the large scale centralized dust collecting system. It can efficiently deal with powder pollutions. And it cost less than wet type dust collecting system.

Wet-type needs water as medium to manage the pollution, so it has better purification efficiency. But the large consumption of water and its secondary treatment makes it less popular. So, choose the right dust collector can cut down a lot of trouble for plant holders. More info about our baghouse dust collector.