On 31 January 2013 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced it has finalized revisions to a general permit for natural gas-fired engines and equipment at compressor stations that help move gas from well sites into transmission pipelines. The revised general permit includes significantly lower allowable emission limits than the previous GP-5 permit. 
The final revisions to GP-5, which were developed after considering public comment, impose emissions limits that are 75 to 90 percent stricter than current limits for Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) and affect the largest, most common types of engines used at compressor stations. Notably, the revised permit also affords operators the ability to install controls to achieve even lower emissions, allowing for the use of additional engines. DEP has posted a table highlighting the changes in its revised plan compared to the previous GP-5 limits on its Web site.
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| Click image to view table postings |
“Essentially, we are doing much more by setting these limits as a line the operator cannot cross. This is an improvement in air quality protection,” said DEP Secretary, Krancer. “We are also determining compliance based on the facility’s actual emissions, instead of equating the permit’s limits with the facility’s emissions, as was previously done.”
DEP’s Web site offers a fact sheet as well as a link to the Revised GP-5 plan.
What this means to you
DEP’s lowered limits for natural gas fired engines at compressor stations affect all rich and lean burn NG fired engines located at a “non major” source facility.
MIRATECH can help
Contact MIRATECH to reduce NOx, CO, NMNEHC, HAP’s and noise emissions at Pennsylvania non major-source compressor stations. Rich burn engines use 3-way catalysts, while lean burn engines use oxidation catalysts to reduce CO, NMNEHC, and HAP’s and SCR catalysts for NOx control.
