NC0020737_Status Report_20170104

December 28, 2016
Derek Denard
State of North Carolina
Dept. of Environmental Quality
Water Quality
1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
CITY OF KINEiS MOUNTAIN WW TF
P.O. BOX 429
KIN(aS MOUNTAIN, X10 2$0$6
Subject: January 2017 Status Report for Pilot Creek WWTP
Mr. Denard,
RECEIVEMCCENkNIR
JAN 0 4 2017
Wate, Duality
Permitting Section
The City of Kings Mountain holds NPDES Permit NC0020737. On July 18, 2016, the City (Pilot
Creek WWTP) received the signed Special Order by Consent by the Environmental Management
Commision. This Order states Status Reports are due on the 1St day of January, April, July and
October of every year until May 31, 2018 in the Scheduled Activity section, Section 2. (b).
As you are aware, Steag Energy Services' is the only SIU that is known to release thallium into
the City of Kings Mountain's collection system. According to permit #0032, issued by the City of
Kings Mountain, Steag is to monitor thallium at their final discharge point monthly. Depending
on the results obtained from an approved contracted laboratory, this monitoring frequency is
subject to change.
The following meetings have been held between Steag and the City to ensure corrective
procedures are taking place to eliminate the thallium issue at hand:
October 25, 2016:
• Plan of action- Develop a plan to reduce the amount of thallium in Steag's discharge.
• The City requested monthly status reports from Steag on the steps they are taking to
address the thallium issue.
• Steag wanted to meet with the DEQ; at a later date they decided not to proceed with
this meeting until further analysis was obtained.

• Steag informed to City of in-house testing that was planned to be completed on
products coming into the facility before the process.
November 22, 2016
• Meeting was requested for Steag to discuss the lab work they have completed on the
thallium in their wastewater.
• Steag provided a "Wastewater Trial" chart which showed the reduction of thallium in
their wastewater with the chemical Remotox K -Ultra (Poly -S); which they are planning
on using for thallium removal.
o This spreadsheet yielded a removal rate average of 99.93115% using Poly -S.
December 7, 2016
Steag prepared a powerpoint presentation describing the wastewater treatment
process at their facility. Below is a basic breakdown of the treatment process from the
mentioned presentation. Each step is listed:
• Water starts at production; it is seperated into caustic and acid. This process is
controlled by an operating board. Steag plans on having all digital operations for
this in the future. Each of these batches are treated differently.
■ Caustic batch tank:
• Treated with ferric chloride
• Differing pH ranges used to target different metals
■ Acidic tank:
• Treated with Lime
• Differing pH ranges target different metals
• Process water is sent to the filter press after leaving these tanks. Filter press
usually produces around 15 tons of solids a day.
• Smaller holding tanks:
■ WW9- goes to the City, pH is checked authomatically prior to discharge.
In the event the pH is out of the required range (6.5-11.5) the system will
authomatically shut down.
■ WW8 & WW10- sent back to the front of the treatment process.
Attached is a basic layout of Steag's pretreatment process:

L
Line 2 Batch
N%°U' Tanks 1-7
5k gal each
Biu radaWon Water I I Basic Production 'Water-
-
Water -
Sedimentation a'
Tanks WWT6
SL B
Am- ,
8-9k gal each
A
Filter Press 1
nNIIWT7-4L
1 -S-Sk gal
,"'"'T10WWT8 .
*10k gal jia " SSk gal
Line 1 Batch
NMI Tanks 1-5
* 5k gal each
FA
W%AIT9
`55k gal
Out the door
Sedimentation
Tanks WM T6
C & D
.
x 8-9k gal each
FA
W%AIT9
`55k gal
Out the door

Steag has an X-ray Florescent (XRF) they use to identify metals of concerns. This
machine doesn't show thallium. Steag is working on a way to identify thallium prior to
the products entering the treatment system.
Steag has purchased Poly -S to use in their treatment system. They are in the process of
running a controlled trial analysis. Wastewater will be held in a holding tank to be
analyzed by K & W laboratories prior to discharge. If those results yield all parameters
are compliant, Steag will then release the water to the POTW (upon written approval).
During the visitation, Steag performed a jar test, to show the testing they performed on
each batch at their facility. This was a lime treatment process that showed how metals
are dropped out during their treatment process.
December 15, 2016
Steag sent an email requesting permission to introduce potassium permanganate into
wastewater treatment process. They believe this product along with the Poly -S will
produce a more efficient effluent, in hopes of removing more metals (focusing on
thallium). After researching this product, I believe it could be beneficial to the
treatment process at Pilot Creek.
Steag understands that during this trial, all discharge must be held onsite, sampled,
analyzed and results submitted to the POTW prior to discharging. A written approval for
discharge will be submitted to Steag upon review of the analysis.
The City has required monthly reports to be completed and submitted to the POTW by the 20th
of each month. These reports shall contain all corrective actions taken by Steag in reducing the
thallium in their watewater. (A copy of these reports can be submitted to you upon request.)
We will continue to run the belt press at Pilot Creek to reduce the amount of thallium in the
effluent.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime.
Sincerely,
Richelle Meek
City of Kings Mountain
WWTP Superintendent/Pretreatment Coordinator
[e-mail]
Office #: [phone]