Project Number:

3491

Green Mountain Coffee - Essex

SERVICE:

Air Quality and Odor Permitting Services

DESCRIPTION:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) retained Tech Environmental to provide air quality and odor permitting services to permit a new coffee roasting facility capable of producing up to 130,000,000 pounds of roasted coffee in Essex Junction, Vermont. The coffee roasting process includes: cleaning, roasting, cooling, grinding, flavoring and packaging operations. A lack of emissions data in the coffee roasting industry motivated several sampling programs performed by Tech at other GMCR coffee roasting facilities in Knoxville, Tennessee and Waterbury, Vermont. Odor sampling was conducted from various sources associated with coffee manufacturing, which emit to the atmosphere, and the results were used for dispersion modeling and permitting of the Essex Junction facility. Tech also managed a monitoring study to document the emissions associated with the degassing of coffee beans inside of a roasting facility. Those emissions were quantified on a time-weighted basis and the results were used to design HVAC systems which would ensure adequate worker safety exposure levels.

Tech prepared a Non-Major Air Permit to Construct application. As part of the application, Tech conducted a refined air quality impact analysis, using AERMOD, to predict concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and coarse particulate matter (PM10) from the proposed coffee roasting operations. Refined modeling was also conducted for individual hazardous air contaminants and the results.

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Key Points

  • Tech collected actual coffee roasting emissions data from two similar facilities to predict emissions at a new facility.
  • Tech was able to submit a Non-Major Air Permit to Construct for the new facility.