United States Office of Air Quality EPA-450/4-84-007f Environmental Protection Planning And Standards Agency Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 March 1984 AIR EPA LOCATING AND ESTIMATING AIR EMISSIONS FROM SOURCES OF NICKEL L &E EPA-450/4-84-007f March 1984 LOCATING AND ESTIMATING AIR EMISSIONS FROM SOURCES OF NICKEL U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Office of Air and Radiation Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 This report has been reviewed by the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and approved for publication as received from the contractor. Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Agency, neither does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. CONTENTS Page List of Tables List of Figures 1. Purpose of Document ..................1 2. Overview of Document Contents .............3 3. Background.......................5 Nature of Pollutant ...............5 Overview of Production and Use ......... 11 Nickel Production............... 11 Nickel Uses.................. 25 References for Section 3 ............ 41 4. Nickel Emission Sources ............... 43 Direct Sources of Nickel ............ 45 Nickel production............... 45 Nickel ore mining and smelting ........ 46 Nickel matte refining............. 52 Secondary nickel recovery........... 59 Other secondary metals recovery plants .... 63 Co-Product nickel recovery .......... 71 Ferrous and nonferrous metals production ... 13 Ferrous metals production .......... 74 Nonferrous metals production......... 85 Electroplating ................ 94 Battery manufacturing............. 98 Nickel- chemical manufacturing ........102 (including -catalysts) Indirect Sources of Nickel ...........108 Coal and oil combustion............108 Cooling towers at electric utility stations..122 Cement production...............123 Municipal refuse and sewage sludge incineration 129 Coke ovens ..................139 Asbestos mining................143 Coal conversion processes...........147 Petroleum processing .............148 Coal and oil supplying ............156 References for Section 4 ............159 5. Source Test Procedures................169 Literature Review of Sampling Methods .....169 Literature Review of Analytical Procedures ...172 Suggested Sampling and Analytical Procedures ..174 References for Section 5 ............176 iii LIST OF TABLES Number Page 1 Physical Properties of Nickel ............ .6 2 Physical Properties of Nickel Carbonyl ......... 8 3 Property and Use Data for Several Miscellaneous Nickel Compounds ...................... 9 4 Companies Identified as or Thought to be Secondary Nickel Refiners or Reclaimers ............... 16 5 List of Facilities Reported to be in the Secondary Copper, Aluminum, Brass and Bronze, Cadmium, Cobalt, and Zinc Recovery Industries ................ 17 6 Partial List of Firms Involved in Nickel Plating Operations ..................... 29 7 List of Firms Producing Nickel Chemicals ....... 35 8 Global Emissions of Nickel to the Atmosphere from Natural Sources ...................... 44 9 Nickel Emission Factors for the Primary Smelting of Nickel Ore ................... 51 10 Primary Nickel Emission Sources and Controls at the AMAX Nickel Refinery .................. 36 11 Annual Nickel Emissions for the AMAX Nickel Refinerv Braithwaite, Louisiana ............... 57 12 Nickel Emission Factors for the Secondary Pr6cessing of Nickel-bearing Scrap ................ 61 13 Nickel Emission Factors for Steel Manufacturing Operations ..................... 70 14 Distribution of Nickel Emissions from Ferrous Metals Production by Geographic Region .......... 83 15 Partial List of Domestic Firms Producing Nickel-containing Ferrous Metals ................... 84 16 Major Nickel Alloys and Their Chemical Composition .. 86 iv LIST OF TABLES (Continued) Number Page 17 Representative Emission Control Equipment Used in Nickel Alloy Production .................... 91 18 Nickel Emission Factors for Nonferrous Metals Production Sources ................... 92 19 Nickel-Cadmium Battery Manufacturers in the United States .................... 103 20 Nickel Catalyst Producers ................. 109 21 Typical Nickel Content of Domestic Coals ......... 110 22 Nickel Content of Various Crude and Fuel Oils ....... 110 23 Nickel Collection Efficiencies for Electrostatic Precipitators .................... 114 24 Nickel Collection Efficiencies for Fabric Filters ..... 114 25 Nickel Collection Efficiencies for Wet Scrubbers ..... 115 26 Nickel Emission Factors for Oil Combustion ........ 117 27 Nickel Emission Factors for Coal Combustion ........ 115 28 Nickel Emission Factors for Fresh Water Utility Cooling Towers ..................... 124 19 Nickel Emission Factors for Major Cement Plant Sources .. 128 30 Design Temperature Profile of a Sewage Sludge Multiple- Hearth Furnace ..................... 133 31 Emission Factors for Nickel from Municipal Refuse and Sewage Sludge Incinerators ............... 137 32 Population of Municipal Refuse and Sewage Sludge Incinerators in the United States by State in 1978 ... 140 33 Coke Plants in the United States as of January 1980 .... 144 v LIST OF TABLES (Continued) Number Page 34 Operations within a Coal Gasification and Liquefaction Process that are Known or Suspected Nickel Emission Sources ......................... 151 35 Known or Suspected Nickel Emission Sources within Light, Intermediate, and Heavy Hydrocarbon Processing Operations ....................... 155 vi LIST OF FIGURES Number Page 1 Nickel scrap flow diagram .............. 14 2 Generalized flow pattern for intermediate and end uses of nickel ........................ 26 3 Intermediate use tree of nickel in 1978 ....... 27 4 End use applications of nickel in 1978 ........ 40 5 Flow diagram of the Hanna Nickel Smelting Co. operations 47 6 Flow diagram of the AMAX hydrometallurgical nickel refinery ....................... 53 7 Process flow diagram for a representative secondary nickel recovery plant .................... 60 8 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary aluminum recovery plant ........................ 64 9 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary brass and bronze recovery plant .................... 65 10 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary cadmium recovery plant ........................ 66 11 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary cobalt recoverv plant ........................ 67 12 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary coDDer recoverv plant ........................ 68 13 Generalized flow diagram of a secondary zinc recovery plant ........................ 69 14 Generalized flow diagram of an electrolytic copper refinery ....................... 72 15 Representative process flow diagram of a ferrous metal production facility ................. 75 16 Representative process flow diagram of a nonferrous metal, nickel alloy production facility ........... 87 17 Flow diagram for a typical nickel electroplating process 96 vii LIST OF FIGURES (Continued) Number Page 18 Flow diagram of typical production operations in impregnation sintered plate nickel-cadmium battery manufacture ..................... 101 19 Representative process flow diagram for the production of nickel sulfate .................... 105 20 Basic process flow diagram for wet and dry cement production plants .................. 126 21 Basic configuration of a municipal refuse incinerator 131 22 Schematic diagram of a typical multiple-hearth sewage sludge incinerator .................. 132 23 Schematic diagram of a fluidized-bed sewage sludge incinerator ..................... 135 24 Metallurgical coke oven battery ........... 142 25 Representative flow diagram for a coal gasification process ....................... 149 26 Representative flow diagram for a coal liquefaction- process ....................... 150 27 Typical flow diagram for a light hydrocarbon Dracessing facility ...................... .152 28 Typical flow diagram for an intermediate hydrocarbon processing facility ................. 153 29 Typical flow diagram for a heavv hydrocarbon processing facility ....................... 154 viii SECTION 1 PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), States, and local air pollution control agencies are becoming increasingly aware of the presence of substances in the ambient air that may be toxic at certain concentrations. This awareness, in turn, has led to attempts to identify source/receptor relationships for these substances and to develop control programs to regulate emissions. Unfortunately, very little information is available on the ambient air concentrations of these substances or on the sources that may be discharging them to the atmosphere. To assist groups interested in inventorying air emissions of various potentially toxic substances, EPA is preparing a series of documents such as this that compiles available information on sources and emissions of these substances. This document specifically deals with nickel and nickel compounds. Its intended audience includes Federal, State, and local air pollution personnel and others who are interested in locating potential emitters of nickel and making gross estimates of air emissions therefrom. Because of the limited amounts of data available on nickel emissions, and since the configuration of many sources will not be the same as those described herein, this document is best used as a primer to inform air pollution personnel about