New Emission-Comparable Fuel Exemption from Classification as Hazardous Waste

    December 19, 2008 EPA issued a final rule (73 Fed. Reg. 77953-78017) effective January 20, 2009, adding a new exclusion to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) rules to the category of exclusions for comparable fuels which are energy-rich hazardous secondary materials which would otherwise be hazardous wastes, but which have the same hazardous constituent concentrations as fossil fuels that would be burned in their place. EPA is establishing a new category of excluded fuel “emission-comparable fuel" (ECF), which meets the comparable fuel specifications (over 160) in Table 1 to §261.38 (except the specifications for hydrocarbons and oxygenates), and the specifications for heating value and viscosity as generated.  ECF has substantial fuel value and the hydrocarbon and oxygenate constituents provide substantial fuel value. The rule specifies conditions on burning ECF which assure that emissions from industrial boilers burning ECF are comparable to emissions from industrial boilers burning fuel oil. The ECF exclusion also includes conditions for tanks and containers storing ECF to assure that discard does not occur. Hazardous secondary materials may not undergo processing to destroy or otherwise remove the hazardous constituents to meet the specifications, or to meet the heating value or viscosity specifications (i.e., such materials, by definition, cannot be ECF). Based on limited current practice for those materials currently classified as comparable fuels under 40 CFR §261.38, EPA expects most ECF to be used on-site. ECF would be used and stored under largely the same conditions as would the virgin fuel—fuel oil--which would often be displaced by ECF.

Storage Conditions: (Conditions added since proposed rule are underlined):

    ECF may be stored in tanks, excepting underground storage tanks, and containers under conditions that prevent releases of hazardous secondary materials to the environment. The storage conditions are adopted from a collection of requirements for storage of fuel oil and other materials: discharge prevention requirements adopted from the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) requirements for oil storage facilities; containment and emergency procedure requirements adopted from the hazardous waste storage requirements, and fugitive air emission controls adopted from several NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) for organic products, by-products, and feedstocks. The final rule also provides alternative storage conditions, adopted solely from the controls for hazardous waste storage facilities EPA is providing these  alternative storage conditions for the convenience of owners and operators since they provide equivalent protection and are less complex that the panoply of conditions that are adopted from requirements for fossil fuels and other products; and (3) facilities that are currently storing hazardous waste that becomes ECF under the exclusion are already complying with these conditions and the rule waives the RCRA closure requirements in 40 CFR Parts 264 and 265 for those interim status and permitted storage units, and generator accumulation units that store ECF, provided that: (1) the storage unit has been used to store only the hazardous waste that is subsequently excluded as ECF under the conditions of Sec.  261.38; and (2) the storage unit will be used to store only that ECF.

Burner Conditions: (Conditions added since proposed rule are underlined)

    To be excluded, ECF may be burned in an industrial or utility boiler that is a watertube type of steam boiler that does not feed fuel using a stoker or stoker-type mechanism. To be considered a boiler, a combustor must meet the definition of boiler under Sec. 260.10. and the boiler must be located on the site of a facility engaged in a manufacturing process where substances are transformed into new products, including the component parts of products, by mechanical or chemical processes. To be considered a utility boiler, the boiler must be used to produce electric power, steam, heated or cooled air, or other gases or fluids for sale. [See Sec.  261.38(b)(3)(i)(B)].

    ECF must be burned under the following operating conditions to be excluded, as provided by Sec.  261.38(c)(2)(ii):

    •Carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in the stack gas must be monitored continuously, must be linked to an automatic ECF feed cutoff system, and must not exceed 100 ppmv on an hourly rolling average (corrected to 7% oxygen);

    • The boiler must fire at least 50% primary fuel on a heating value and mass basis, and the primary fuel must be fossil fuel, fuels derived from fossil fuel, tall oil, or comparable fuel with a heating value of 8,000 Btu/lb or greater;

    • The boiler load must be 40% or greater;

    • Key operating parameters (i.e., CO; gas temperature at the inlet to the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) or fabric filter (FF) unless coal is the primary fuel; indicator of boiler load; ECF feedrate; primary fuel feedrate) must be linked to a system that automatically cuts off the ECF feed if the limits on the parameters are exceeded;

    • ECF must be fired into the primary fuel flame zone;

    • The ECF firing system must provide proper atomization; and

    • If the boiler is equipped with an ESP or FF and does not fire coal as the primary fuel, the combustion gas temperature at the inlet to the ESP or FF must be continuously monitored, must be linked to the automatic ECF feed cutoff system, and must not exceed 400 [deg]F on an hourly rolling average.

 

    Requirements for notifications, reporting, recordkeeping are provided in detail in the rule.  For further information contact the author Barbara D. Little at 304/ 340-1355 or email blittle@jacksonkelly.com.

 

    This article was authored by Barbara D. Little, Jackson Kelly PLLC. For more information on the author see here.