The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued final Clean Air Act standards for boilers and certain incinerators to reduce toxic air emissions, including mercury and soot. The rule establishes hazardous air pollutant emission standards for new and existing industrial, commercial and institutional boilers and process heaters located at major and area (minor) sources of toxic air pollutants, as well as commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators. The final rule was signed on February 21.
EPA proposed these rules in April 2010, after a rulemaking period that began in 2007 when a federal court vacated a previous proposal for industry specific standards. Based on substantial public input that was received after the April 2010 proposal, EPA has made extensive revisions to the rules proposed at that time.
EPA estimates that the boiler rules will affect about 200,000 units located at large (major) and small (area) sources of hazardous air pollutant emissions across the country. The types of boilers covered by the new standards include:
- Boilers and process heaters at major sources of hazardous or toxic air pollutants, such as refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities, that burn natural gas, fuel oil, coal, biomass or other gases. EPA has further identified some 15 (!) subcategories of regulated boilers and process heaters at major sources.
- Boilers located at area sources of toxic air emissions, including other industrial facilities, universities, hospitals, hotels and commercial buildings that burn fuel oil, coal or biomass. While these units constitute the far greater number of sources, they are responsible for a relatively small amount of the toxic air emissions addressed by the rule.
The final standard requires that boilers and process heaters at major sources with heat input capacity of less than 10 million Btu/hr, “limited use” boilers (operated less than 10% of the year), and units that burn natural gas or other refinery gas, only, comply with work practice standards rather than numerical emission limits. The rule requires that the operator perform a “tune-up” of the unit annually or once every two years, depending on the type of source. Except for coal-fired boilers with heat input greater than 10 million Btu/hr, existing boilers at area sources just need a tune-up once every two years.
Numeric emission limits have been established for all other new and existing boilers and process heaters at major sources of hazardous air pollutants, new boilers at area sources, and existing, large coal-fired boilers at area sources. The rule requires that these facilities conduct monitoring to demonstrate compliance with emission limits for pollutants such as mercury, dioxins, particulates, hydrogen chloride and carbon monoxide. For the largest units, continuous emissions monitoring will be required. Operators of large sources also must conduct a one-time energy assessment to identify conservation opportunities.
Initial notification that a facility is subject to this rule is due within 60 days after publication of the rule. Existing boilers and process heaters at major sources of toxic air pollutants and large coal-fired boilers at area sources must comply with these requirements by March 2014 (three years after their publication in the Federal Register). Existing boilers at area sources that are subject to the work practice (tune-up) requirements, only, must comply within one year after rule publication. “New” boilers and process heaters must comply within 60 days after the rule is published, or upon startup.
In addition to boilers, the final rule regulates toxic air emissions from solid waste incinerators that burn waste at a commercial or an industrial facility, including cement manufacturing facilities. According to EPA, 88 existing incinerators are affected by this rule. A separate final rule addresses New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and emission guidelines for about 200 sewage sludge incinerators.
Or maybe not so final, after all: Because the final standards significantly differ from the proposals, folks at EPA believe further public review is required. So, although the rules are “final,” EPA is seeking additional public review and comment in reconsideration of the final emissions standards for large and small boilers and for solid waste incinerators. Additional details on the reconsideration process are forthcoming.
For more information, visit EPA’s website at www.epa.gov/airquality/combustion or contact T. Cozzie Consulting.