The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) issued a Notice of Violation to Croda, Inc. for air emission and equipment violations associated with the ethylene oxide plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
The plant at the Atlas Point site had been undergoing testing after a lengthy closing that came after the release of ethylene oxide, a potentially deadly chemical in November 2018. The incident led to adjacent I-295 being closed for a time as travelers headed home from Thanksgiving.
The violations include: connecting and routing an unpermitted source into an air pollution control device (scrubber); exceeding the annual emission limit for ethylene oxide at the scrubber; failure to meet the volatile organic compound (VOC) removal efficiency at the scrubber; and operation of an unpermitted source of ethylene oxide at the hotwell, which collects and condenses vapors from the purification and vacuum distillation of crude ethylene glycol.
The violations at the plant outlined in the notice were discovered through a source testing event conducted Sept. 17 by the company and observed by DNREC staff. Croda submitted results of the testing to the Department in a report dated Oct. 5.
Following receipt of the report, DNREC has been working to quantify Croda’s emissions that resulted in the violation noticed issued by DNREC, to the emissions Croda is allowed under conditions of its air permit for the plant.
The ethylene oxide plant has not operated since the date of the test.
A notice of violation is the first step in a process that can lead to DNREC taking further enforcement actions. DNREC is currently working to determine the path forward for Croda’s resuming operations at the plant.
DNREC will hold a virtual information session at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19 to describe the violations and answer questions from the community nearby to the Croda facility. The public may join the video meeting via WebEx at https://stateofdelaware.webex.com/stateofdelaware/onstage/g.php?MTID=e4c89abf0bc79ce0f842c2b6e9d0eb72b with event number 173 655 4144 and password CrodaInfoSession, or to join by audio conference only, by calling 408-418-9388. Questions and comments from the public can also be sent to daqpermittinginfo@delaware.gov.
