This month, the EPA released final amendments to clean air standards for industrial boilers and certain incinerators, as well as a new definition of nonhazardous secondary materials. Of the 1.5 million boilers in the US, less than 1% will need to meet numerical emission limits, which differ among the different subcategories of boilers, and 13% will need to adhere to standards such as tune-ups. The limits will not affect the 86% of boilers that burn clean natural gas. The EPA revised the definition of nonhazardous secondary materials to determine which materials are considered solid waste when burned in combustion units. The EPA also released final amendments to air toxic standards for Portland Cement Manufacturing. The amendments maintain limits set in 2010 for mercury, total hydrocarbons and acid gases but lower limits for particulate matter emissions. Existing source kilns must produce less than 0.07 lb of particulate matter per ton of clinker, and new source kilns must produce less than 0.02 lb of particulate matter per ton of clinker from a three-run stack test average. Both existing and new source kilns must demonstrate continuous monitoring.

Source: EPA