UNC-Chapel Hill is seeking an air permit that would allow it to experiment with supplanting coal with pellets made of paper and plastic scraps at its Cogeneration power plant on Cameron Avenue.
University officials want to start the yearlong trial in 2025, burning pellets manufactured by Wisconsin company Convergen Energy. If the trial is deemed successful, the university would burn the pellets instead of coal to generate steam and power.
In an Aug. 14 press release, UNC Energy Services Executive Director Tony Millette said, “As part of our ongoing commitment to the campus Climate Action Plan, we are pleased to take this next step in the process of building a more modern, sustainable fuel portfolio.”
But some are wary of the pellet proposal, viewing burning anything to generate the campus’ energy as a half measure that comes with significant potential risks.
UNC has asked DEQ to grant it a construction permit that would allow it to burn the fuel pellets for a 12-month trial period. Then, within a year, the university would seek an updated air quality permit for the power plant.
Kym Meyer, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, said local governments and community members have been meeting with UNC officials for more than a year to discuss the future of the power plant. Community members have gone into those meetings, Meyer said, with the goal of convincing UNC to shutter the plant altogether and reclaim the rail line that runs to it.
“This is a moment where we can make a really important, big transition,” Meyer said, “and moving from one thing to something else that’s slightly less bad but still requires use of the rail line just seems really short-sighted.”
Convergen’s pellets
Convergen Energy’s pellets are made with material from about 100 different companies such as Georgia-Pacific, Hallmark and Waste Management. Convergen’s website says the pellets are made using products like sludge from paper mills, packaging materials and corrugated containers.
Without the pellets. the company says, those materials would be sent to landfills.
“Convergen Energy uniquely provides the full solution — providing fuel for renewable power that can be generated regardless of weather, and can power critical facilities, while solving the issues of landfill and waste plastics,” said a company presentation that is included in the permit application.
Plastic makes up between 15% and 40% of the finished pellet, with cellulose fiber making up the remaining material, according to data Convergen submitted as part of the permit application. The plastics that are mixed into the pellets include nylon, polyethylene and polyester.
Burning the pellets allows plants that were using coal or natural gas to achieve lower carbon dioxide emissions, according to a Convergen presentation attached to UNC’s application. Some of the companies that supply Convergen with their scraps are able to obtain renewable energy credits once the pellets are burned.
The UNC Cogeneration Plant also burns natural gas to generate power and steam. In its DEQ application, the university estimated emissions if all of the coal burned at the facility is replaced by Convergen’s pellets.
That would involve burning nearly 45,000 tons of the pellets annually, according to modeling submitted to DEQ.
The modeling showed that emissions of several pollutants would decline, the university said. Those include several sizes of particulate matter, fluorides and sulfuric acid mist. The largest projected decrease is in sulfur dioxide, which would decline from 181.8 tons per year in the current energy mix to 63.77 tons.
For greenhouse gases, UNC projects a decrease from the equivalent of 189,758 tons of carbon dioxide per year when burning coal to 166,886 tons when burning the pellets.
Some pollutants would increase if the pellets replace coal, according to UNC’s modeling. Nitrogen oxides would rise from 126.7 tons per year to 148.7 tons, while carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds would also rise.
Meyer, the SELC attorney, said localized air pollution and potential emissions of forever chemicals would be among her concerns with the proposal.
“We do appreciate that the university’s trying to reduce its carbon emissions, but this just doesn’t seem like the way to do that,” Meyer said.
Perrin de Jong, the Center for Biological Diversity’s North Carolina staff attorney, called the proposal “very stupid.” The Center for Biological Diversity has unsuccessfully challenged UNC’s power plant in federal court.
Moving away from coal to a paper-and-plastic pellet is effectively trading one carbon-intensive energy source for another, de Jong argued, while adding pollutants from plastic.
“If they want to say that they’re going green by burning wood fiber and plastic trash, they’ve got another thing coming,” de Jong said in an interview, also expressing concerns about odor that could come from the plastic that’s being burned.
UNC also raised the possibility of Convergen opening a pellet manufacturing facility in North Carolina if the school switches to the fuel source permanently. The state has ample supplies of the raw materials that go into the pellets, the release said, and a nearby manufacturing facility would ensure “a reliable local supply.”
In order to obtain the permit, UNC needs the Town of Chapel Hill to affirm that the proposal is consistent with existing zoning.
Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson told The News & Observer via text message that she does not yet have a stance on the proposal and has directed town staff to learn more about it, particularly after hearing concerns about the impacts of having plastic in the pellets that would be burned.
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