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Acid Plant Database October 29, 2019
Owner | American Smelting and Refining Company - ASARCO | |||
Location | Ray Complex Hayden
Smelter P.O. Box 8 640 Asarco Avenue Hayden AZ USA 85235 |
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Background |
1994 - Acquisition by Southern Peru Copper Corporation 1999 - Grupo Mexico purchases shares of Asarco for $2.2 billion (including debt); retains Asarco as wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary. 2005 - ASARCO files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy |
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Website | www.asarco.com | |||
Plant | Hayden Smelter | |||
Coordinates | 33º 0' 8" N, 110º 46' 22" W | |||
Type of Plant | Metallurgical | |||
Gas Source |
Copper Inco Flash Furnace (installed 1983) Converter (installed 1969) |
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Plant Capacity | 2820 MTPD | |||
SA/DA | DA | |||
Emissions |
SO2: < 650 ppm, < 9,521 lb/h (annual average) Opacity: < 20% |
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Status | Operating | |||
Year Built | 1984 | |||
Technology | MECS | |||
Contractor | MECS | |||
Remarks | Acid Plant Stack: Diameter: 17 ft, Height: 1000 ft, Exit Gas Velocity: 19 ft/s, Temperature: 303oF | |||
Permits | Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality
www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/permits
Air Quality Class I Permit |
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Permit No. | Issue Date | Expiry Date | Details | |
1166 | September 13, 1982 | - | Installation Permit | |
0308-85 | April 9, 1984 | - | Operating Permit | |
1215 | April 4, 1989 | - | Installation Permit | |
1240 | August 7, 1992 | - | Installation Permit | |
1000276 | February 13, 1996 | - | Minor Permit Revision | |
1000462 | November 11, 1998 | Minor Permit Revision | ||
1000042 | October 9, 2001 | October 9, 2006 | - | |
- | - | - | - | |
Pictures | ||||
General |
Hayden, Arizona, is located approximately 90 miles southeast of Phoenix on
State Highway 177, along the Gila River, below the confluence of the Gila
and San Pedro Rivers. The town was founded in 1912 to provide housing for
the workers at the Ray open pit mine complex and the copper smelter complex,
originally built by the Kennecott Copper Company. The town has a current
population of approximately 900, and shares many services, including the
local school district, with the town of Winkelman, population 600, located
one mile to the south. The towns also share a common history regarding the
emissions from the smelter operations. There have been several smelters on the site of the current Asarco smelter, with emissions being discharged into the air in Hayden and Winkelman since operations began in 1909. Historic emissions contained large quantities of lead, arsenic, sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter, and other materials. These contaminants drifted over the entire region in the air and many of the materials contained in these emissions fell out of the atmosphere and settled on the ground. The first emission controls placed upon the smelters were installed in 1920. These electrostatic precipitators were designed to remove particulate matter from the stack emissions. The smelters within the complex operated with these minimal emission controls prior to 1969, when requirements under the forthcoming Clean Air Act amendments of 1970 required that controls be installed to limit SO2 emissions. Acid plants were added in 1969 and 1971 to reduce SO2 and particulate emissions. Additional controls were added to the current smelter in 1984, further reducing the SO2 emissions. The current smelter stack height was designed to elevate the emissions above the valley air shed and better facilitate dispersion. The residential areas of Hayden are located on two ridges that run parallel to each other, in an east/west direction, east of Highway 177. Houses line the main street on the north ridge. Houses on the south ridge are scattered among several streets intersecting Velasco Avenue. The main street in Hayden is Hayden Avenue, which runs east-west from the smelter property line on the eastern edge of town, to Fourth Street, a distance of approximately 3/8 mile. It is along this street that the primary business district is located. The ASARCO smelter is a large complex of approximately 200 acres at the eastern end of the town. Two large emission stacks dominate the horizon. One is about 1,000 feet tall and the other is 250 feet tall. There are also several smaller stacks visible at buildings throughout the complex. A large slag pile, a solid glass-like waste material, is on the eastern end of the facility, adjacent to the town. |
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References | Russell, M., Safe, P., Veek, A., Fernandez, A. and Parameswaran, K., "Asarco LLC Hayden Converter Retrofit Project - An Update", Copper 2019, Vancouver, Canada. | |||
News |
December 15, 2016 - Citizens and
businesses have the opportunity to comment on proposed rules drafted by the
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for significantly
decreasing the release two types of pollutants from copper smelters in
Hayden and Miami to within federal regulations adopted since 2008. The
rules are aimed at reducing the release of airborne lead dust from the
Hayden smelter (owned by ASARCO) and the release of sulfur dioxide from the
smelters in Hayden and Miami (the latter owned by Freeport-McMoRan) in order
to protect the public health and environment. They cover the use of specific
control technologies and include recordkeeping and reporting requirements. ADEQ opened the comment period on December 5. Interested parties will have until January 9, 2017 to file comments on the proposed rules, after which ADEQ will hold a public hearing to address any concerns and draft the final rules. Once finalized, the rules will be submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for incorporation in Arizona’s State Implementation Plan as required under Section 110 of the Clean Air Act. Should ADEQ not produce these rules, EPA has the right under the Clean Air Act to draft and impose their own. The need for the new ADEQ rulemaking began in 2008 when EPA revised its air quality standards for lead (last updated in 1979), strengthening them by nearly 90%. The new maximum allowable level of lead in ambient air is a rolling three-month average of 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter evaluated over a three-year period. In implementing the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), EPA conducted a technical analysis in 2010 in the Gila and Pinal County townships around the Hayden smelter and decreed it in 2014 a nonattainment area in need of improvement. EPA in 2010 likewise revised the allowable level of sulfur dioxide emissions to 75 parts per billion per hour. Subsequent testing found both the Hayden and Miami areas to be not in compliance and were thus declared nonattainment areas around them. In adopting the more stringent rules, EPA cited the negative health effects of those two pollutants. Breathing airborne lead dust can impair the sensory, motor and cognitive skills of developing children; and can impair the memory and visual skills of adults, as well as increase the likelihood of heart attacks. Breathing high levels of sulfur dioxide can damage the lungs, and cause asthma and other respiratory problems. A substantial portion of ADEQ’s proposed rules cover the control of “fugitive lead dust.” Lead is found in the same ore holding copper and can be released during the smelting process as dust that can settle atop the areas around a smelter. For this reason, the rules would require ASARCO to daily sweep vacuum or use a wet broom on paved areas around the smelter compound to remove lead dust, and to spread dust suppressant on unpaved roads at least once a week. Vehicles traveling over these roads cannot exceed 15 m.p.h. and must be frequently cleaned. Wind fences are mandated. During high wind events, rules note when smelter operations must stop to avoid widespread lead dust dispersal. Equipping the facility with an Acid Plant Scrubber Blowdown Dryer System is to be required. The smelter compound must be equipped with ambient lead monitors, and samples collected must be retained a minimum six days. For sulfur dioxide containment, ADEQ proposes regulations governing furnace ventilators, filtering systems, and the installation of monitors to record sulfur dioxide concentrations with the compound. Contingency measures are to be implemented if an area fails to attain EPA standards. ADEQ further proposes stringent measurement and recordkeeping requirements for both pollutants. For their part, both ASARCO and Freeport-McMoRan proposed expensive upgrades to their copper smelters in early 2014 to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions as ADEQ was working on these proposed rules. To meet the new EPA sulfur dioxide standards, ASARCO launched a converter retrofit program to replace the smelter’s five 13-ft. diameter converters with three 15-ft. diameter converters, install improved primary and secondary hoods, and an electrostatic precipitator for solids removal prior to recapturing sulfur dioxide in acid baths. Larger ladles (300 cu. Ft. instead of 200 cu. Ft.) will be installed to reduce the number of hot metal transfers. As a result, ASARCO said, about 99.7% of all sulfur dioxide produced during the copper smelting process would be removed. October 11, 2014 - The Hayden smelter, one of whose stacks stands about 1,000 feet tall, has been a fixture in the community since starting operations in 1912. With slightly more than 600 people working at Asarco’s Hayden operation, it’s by far the biggest employer in a town of fewer than 1,000 permanent residents. In 2013, the Hayden smelter produced about 273 million tons of copper and 490,000 tons of sulfuric acid, and paid about $54 million in salaries and wages, the Arizona Mining Association told a state House committee in August. The Freeport smelter in Miami, operating since 1915, employs about 1,000 people. It produces about 420 million pounds of copper and 725,000 tons of sulfuric acid annually, the association said. The Hayden smelter has also been a continuing source of controversy over the past 15 years, with many of its neighbors saying it has damaged their health. Asarco has upgraded the smelter many times since it first opened in 1912. But since the middle 2000s, the Hayden area has been under federal investigation under the EPA’s Superfund toxic waste cleanup program. In 2002, for instance, more than 250 current and former residents of Hayden and nearby Winkelman, Kearny and Riverside signed class-action lawsuits, alleging that Asarco’s toxic releases had injured them, contaminated the environment, and devalued their homes. The company wouldn’t comment directly, but officials said studies by the University of Arizona and the University of Pittsburgh found no connection between smelter operations and illness. The suit was later settled for $4.8 million. In 2008 and 2009, Asarco spent $13.5 million to remove contaminated soil from 265 yards in Hayden under regulators’ oversight.
August 27, 2014
- Plans for a $110 million upgrade of the Hayden copper smelter that will
bring the apparatus in compliance with new federal regulations concerning
emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have been filed by owner ASARCO/Grupo
Mexico with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).
The rules issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
require that SO2 emissions from the smelter be reduced from 140 ppb (parts
per billion) to 75 ppd during a 24-hour period. The Hayden smelter has until
Oct. 3, 2018 to meet this standard.
Meeting the standard is important to keep the Hayden copper smelting
plant operating and providing employment for residents of the
Hayden/Winkleman area. To meet
EPA’s goal, the plan ASARCO filed on June 24 with ADEQ describes a converter
retrofit project that will replace the smelter’s five current 13-ft.
diameter converters with three 15-ft. diameter converters. Also included in
the plan are the installation of improved primary and secondary hoods, and
an electrostatic precipitator for solids removal prior to SO2 recapture at
the smelter’s existing acid plants. Larger ladles (300 cu. ft. instead of
200 cu. ft.) will be installed to reduce the number of hot metal transfers.
Additional upgrades will capture secondary gases and direct them to the acid
plant for conversion to a sulfuric acid product.
Overall the plan aims to reduce SO2 emissions at the Hayden smelter
by 85 percent, with a total SO2 capture rate of 99.7 percent of what is
produced during the copper smelting process.
The plans were made public during a meeting of the Arizona House
Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources held Aug. 22 at the
Gila Community College Pueblo Campus in Globe.
ADEQ is expected to rule on the ASARCO plan by late September. If
approved the plan will then go to EPA for an additional 45-day comment
period. With EPA approval, ASARCO could begin work on the upgrades before
year’s end. |
MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day
STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per
Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption
* Coordinates can be used to
locate plant on Google Earth