Silver Eagle Refining (SER), located in Woods Cross, is a dedicated community partner. Over the last four years SER has donated over $750,000 to support community projects and initiatives across Davis County. They are also keenly aware of the special air quality challenges present not only in their local Davis County community but along the along the greater Wasatch Front. As good neighbors, SER believes they should be a part of the solution. To accomplish this goal the company has taken several, voluntary actions to reduce their emissions.
One of the first actions taken was to move the gasoline production from the Woods Cross SER facility to the Evanston SER facility. This one, simple action resulted in a reduction of overall emissions in Davis County from SER by approximately 136 tons per year. Many of the reduced are emissions are of criteria pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are monitored by the Division of Air Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The decision to move gasoline production was completely voluntary and made to improve air quality. Another outcome of the decision to move gasoline production to the Evanston facility was it gave SER the ability to produce cleaner Tier 3 gasoline. All batches of gasoline produced in the Evanston facility in 2016 and 2017 have exceeded the Tier 3 requirements established by EPA.
SER has also reinvested capital in energy efficiency projects. These energy efficiency projects have resulted in a 60% reduction in energy needed to process one barrel of crude oil. This means that SER Woods Cross can process crude using less than half of the energy that was used in. One specific energy efficiency project was to install internal floating roofs on all the SER storage tanks to reduce VOC emissions. This project has reduced VOC emissions between 9 and 20 tons per year per tank.
SER continues to show their dedication to the community and improving Utah’s air quality not just with words, but through their actions. UCAIR believes that while air quality regulations are important, they are not enough. The commitments businesses like SER make to reduce their emissions are critical. UCAIR champions a basic principle: that by working together, people can make a difference. UCAIR is proud to count SER as a valuable partner.
