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Hyperion Must Meet Toughest Air Quality Requirements in Nation
September 11, 2008

ELK POINT, S.D. – The release of the draft Air Permit by the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) marks another step forward for the Hyperion Energy Center, and begins the next phase of the public permitting process.

DENR’s release of the draft also begins a 30-day period during which the agency is gathering comments from the public on the permit, one of several opportunities the public has had to weigh in on the project, located in Union County.

“DENR conducted a thorough and detailed review of the air permit application we submitted last year and determined we met or exceeded all legal requirements. In addition, DENR strengthened air emission control requirements in key areas. As a result, the Hyperion facility will be 80% cleaner than the average California refinery and 90% cleaner than the average U.S. refinery. These stringent requirements will make the Hyperion Refinery the cleanest in the nation,” said Hyperion Project Executive Preston Phillips.

“The release of this draft permit marks an important milestone in the extensive and comprehensive permitting process. It is important for the public to thoroughly review the draft and provide input during this open comment period. Public participation is of great value to both DENR and the Hyperion team, as reflected in Hyperion’s commitment to the Union County referendum that overwhelmingly endorsed the necessary zoning changes,” continued Phillips.

The Hyperion Energy Center will include a 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery producing ultralow sulfur gasoline and diesel, as well as an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant. The hydrogen-producing IGCC plant will provide the refinery’s utility needs. The IGCC process provides greater opportunity for emission reduction than any other process for steam and electricity production. In addition, the IGCC plant at the Energy Center will include a patented syngas cleanup process that provides highly efficient removal of sulfur and other contaminants and also includes activated carbon for control of mercury emissions. No existing IGCC power plant has such effective emissions controls.

The Hyperion Energy Center will incorporate numerous environmental protection measures that collectively are unprecedented and will result in the cleanest refinery in the country.

Among other efforts, the refinery will:

• Incorporate highly efficient removal and recovery of sulfur from petroleum intermediates, transportation fuels, and from fuel gas burned in the refinery’s process heaters.
• Use ultra-low-NOX burners (ULNB) for control of nitrogen oxide emissions from all process heaters. It will also use selective catalytic reduction (SCR), in addition to the ultra-low-NOX burners for most process heaters. Many refineries have no process heaters with this extensive level of emissions control, and in no other refinery are emissions controlled as well throughout.
• Include a wastewater treatment plant that will incorporate both steam stripping and activated sludge biological treatment for highly effective removal of benzene and other hazardous air pollutants from water before it is discharged.

In addition, the innovative refinery design has eliminated the use of specific process units and such action will further reduce the facility’s environmental impact. For example, while nearly all other petroleum refineries have what’s called a fluidized catalytic cracking unit, Hyperion’s will not. These units are typically the largest emitting units at a refinery. Similarly, the engineers designing the energy center have removed potential sources of toxic chemical releases by incorporating a system that eliminates the use of hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid as catalysts in the process that boosts the octane of the gasoline produced at the refinery.

“Hyperion is dedicated to ensuring that America has adequate energy supplies and that this energy is produced in an environmentally responsible manner,” Phillips said. All facilities associated with the Hyperion Energy Center will incorporate the most advanced commercially feasible emission control technologies and adhere to green principles, as spelled out in the company’s Green Charter.