Enviva Pellets Greenwood, LLC (Enviva) owns and operates a wood pellet manufacturing facility in Greenwood, South Carolina. Enviva submitted an air construction permit application on February 10, 2020, to (1) reduce particulate matter (dust) emissions by adding more efficient process equipment, upgrading existing pollution control devices and, adding new dust reduction control equipment, and (2) increase its wood pellet plant production limit by 25%.  

The proposed project includes:

• replacing five existing horizontal dry hammermills with 36 new vertical dry hammermills; 
• adding one new green hammermill, three new pelletizers, and one pellet cooler; and 
• installing new air pollution control devices and routing dry hammermills to some existing air pollution control devices to reduce emissions.

The proposed replacement of the horizontal dry hammermills and upgrades of the existing air pollution control equipment are intended to decrease dust and the overall emissions from the facility.

Air Construction Permit

DHEC’s Bureau of Air Quality (BAQ) has completed a technical review of the application. The technical review includes reviewing emissions calculations, performing a regulatory review, conducting an ambient air quality analysis and verifying that the proposed project can meet all applicable air quality regulations if constructed and operated as requested in the air permit application.

Once the technical review was completed, a draft air permit containing all applicable emission limitations and requirements was placed on public notice. DHEC accepted written comments through August 27, 2020. All comments were considered before a final decision was made on the draft permit. The Department decision was made on November 10, 2020 to approve the permit with amendments. A copy of the comments received, the Department Decision (including the permit, statement of basis, and response to comments) and other corresponding documents are available below.

• Department Decision 
• Air Construction Permit Application
• Addendum Received on 09/10/2020
• Addendum Received on 09/22/2020
• Addendum Received on 10/07/2020
• Addendum Received on 10/08/2020
• Addendum Received on 10/20/2020
• Dust Control Best Management Plan
• Comments Received

The procedure for appealing a permit decision and receiving a hearing before the Board of Health and Environmental Control is available here. 

The following is a summary of the changes made to the synthetic minor construction permit due to comments received during the comment period:

• The fugitive dust condition (C.10) has been updated to require additional dust control measures for the Enviva Greenwood Best Management Practices (BMP) Plan. The reassessed BMP Plan was submitted by Enviva and reviewed by the Department in advance of issuance of the permit. The permit condition therefore has also been modified to require plan reassessment periodically or any time the Department requests, rather than within 180 days of permit issuance.
• Condition C.12 has been added which requires a source test on the Wood Pellet Storage Silos to verify potential Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) and potential Carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions.  A total of four source tests shall be performed, with one test per quarter within a 12-month period.
• Condition C.31 in the permit requires Enviva to operate at the current limit of 521,000 ODT/year until all control upgrades and additions allowed by the construction permit have been completed. The facility is also required to notify the Bureau upon completion and prior to increasing the production rate.
• The Algorithms Attachment has been updated to include Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and HAP algorithms for the Green Woodchipper (Emission Unit 2) and the Wood Pellet Storage Silos (Emission Units 40 and 41)
• Neighbors have been provided a phone number to allow them to file complaints anytime of the day to Chris Brown, Enviva Community Relations Manager-Communications at (301) 575-7820.

Enviva anticipates it will take approximately 9-12 months to complete the proposed changes.

Contact

• To report possible excess emissions or wood debris found on your personal property, contact the DHEC Regional Office in Greenwood at (864) 227-5915. DHEC follows up on every complaint by visiting the facility and investigating possible causes for excess emissions.
• For information about community engagement, contact Monica Taylor at taylormn@dhec.sc.gov or (803) 898-7678.
• For technical information about the air permit, contact Jo Anna Cunningham at (803) 898-4123.
• To request other documents not included on this webpage, please contact the Freedom of Information Office at foi@dhec.sc.gov or (803) 898-3882.