Coffee Bean Roasting Operations

Coffee bean roasting facilities range from small gourmet coffee shops to medium-sized commercial operations with locally distributed products to large facilities with national product distribution. Coffee roasting refers to any operation involving the processing of unroasted coffee beans into roasted coffee beans. There are generally two types of coffee bean roasters, drum-type and floating bed-type roasters. Drum-type coffee bean roasters are the most common type used in the coffee bean roasting industry. The floating bed coffee bean-type roasters typically have a shorter roast time. The majority of coffee bean roasters are equipped with natural gas-fired burners to provide heat for the roasting process. The various types of equipment used in these coffee bean roasting operations include: hoppers, chaff collectors, screens, roasters, cooling trays, cyclones, and thermal oxidizers.

Who Needs a Permit?

For smaller roasting operations (burner rated less than 1 million BTU per hour), the permitting criteria is based on two parameters: roaster type and batch capacity of the roaster.

Drum-type coffee bean roasters with a cyclone: Require a permit if the drum capacity is greater than 18 lbs of unroasted coffee beans per batch, or the combined heat input of the roaster burners plus thermal oxidizer is greater than or equal to 1 million BTU per hour.
Floating bed type coffee bean roasters with a cyclone: Require a permit if the batch capacity is greater than 12 lbs of unroasted coffee beans per batch, or the combined heat input of the roaster burners plus thermal oxidizer is greater than or equal to 1 million BTU per hour.

Coffee roasters equipped with a natural gas-fired Afterburner: Roasters with an afterburner rated greater than or equal to 1 million BTU per hour will require a separate application for Authority to Construct for the afterburner.

Permit Fees

All permit fees are based on District Rule 301.

When applying for a permit through Online Services, the appropriate Permit Fee schedule will be automatically determined based upon the selection of the General Equipment Description. If you wish to see what the fees are for new equipment prior to applying, please use Schedule 2 in the Permit Fee Schedule to determine the initial application fee. The application fee is based upon the maximum rated heat input expressed in BTUs per hour.

For questions regarding the application fee, please email permitting@airquality.org or call 279-207-1122.

How to Apply for a Permit

All permit applications must be completed and submitted electronically through the Online Services customer portal.

When applying for a permit through Online Services, the equipment must be categorized by both a General and Specific description. The following categories may be selected when applying for Coffee Bean Roasting Operations:

General Equipment Description	Associated Specific Description
Coffee Roaster	Coffee Roaster Coffee Roaster w/ Afterburner

Permit applications must be completed and submitted electronically through the Online Services portal. All applications must be submitted with the appropriate fee in order to be processed. Application fees may be paid directly through the Online Services portal. Pay the application fee when you submit your application for fastest processing time. Applications submitted without payment will be cancelled if payment is not received within two weeks of submitting the application.

To contact Permitting staff please call 279-207-1122 or email permitting@airquality.org.

Related Rules

Rule	Date Last Amended