Hazardous waste incinerator rule delayed by EPA for more than a year Final regulations that would have drastically cut air emissions from facilities that burn hazardous wastes have been put off for more than a year, an EPA official announced at a technical workshop in December. The official also said the regulations, which are strongly opposed by regulated industries, be substantially modified. The final rule had been expected Dec. 15, 1996, but will be delayed until March 1998 or later, according to EPA staff and industry analysts. It would have covered facilities that annually burn approximately 3 million tons of hazardous wastes, including 21 commercial incinerators; 141 on-site industrial incinerators, mostly in the chemical industry; and 49 cement kilns and 15 lightweight aggregate kilns. The covered kilns use hazardous waste as a fuel in making cement and concrete Pollution control equipment for these facilities varies from none for some kilns and on-site incinerators to state of the art for one commercial incinerator. In announcing the hazardous waste proposal in April 1996, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said the rule was part of the Clinton administration's 1993 "safety-first combustion strategy." She said the rule, once finalized, would protect 53 million people living near hazardous waste combustors by cutting emissions of dioxin by 98%, mercury by 80%, and lead and cadmium by 95% According to Lawrence Gonzalez with the EPA Office of Solid Waste, the rule is being delayed because of time needed for the comment period. In particular, Gonzalez noted diat the large amount of new data supplied during the comment period by cement kiln operators and their trade association necessitated more EPA analysis. In particular, critics challenged how the emissions standards were set and argued that the fouryear period allowed for implementation was too short to purchase and install new equipment and gain necessary permits.
Speaking at an emissions monitoring workshop in Research Triangle Park, N.C., Dec. 10 and 11, Gonzalez acknowledged industry objections and said next April EPA will issue a "notice of data availability" (NODA) that will present new approaches for establishing emissions standards. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA must set standards for industries
Pollution control equipment for these facilities varies from none for some kilns and on-site incinerators to state of the art for one commercial incinerator. that emit air toxics based on maximum achievable control technology (MACT). MACT is a technology-derived standard that can be achieved by the top 12% of facilities operating in the regulated sector. For this rule, EPA used the average of the top 12%; and industry has strongly objected, saying EPA had shifted the mark to the median, or 6% (ES&T, July 1996, p. 278A). Gonzalez said EPA may keep the 6% baseline, change it to 12%, or develop a hybrid. Although several industry representatives at the workshop said they doubt EPA can legally change the emissions standards without reproposing the entire rule, Gonzalez said agency attorneys are working to craft an approach that would not trigger another pro~ posa.1 and a. lengthy comment riod. He stressed that comments will be encouraged on the NODA but warned that the period will be brief He also said EPA upper management was pressing to have the rule finalized by 1998 but noted that much would depend on whether the Office of Management and Budget approves EPA's
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approach when it examines the final rule. Several workshop attendees doubted EPA would make the March 1998 date; EPA officials also hinted the rule may be delayed again. Another stumbling block in the original proposal was the requirement for installation of continuous emissions monitoring (CEM) equipment for mercury and particulate emissions. Gonzalez said CEM would be dropped from the final rule. The agency remains committed to its use; but, he said, federal projects intended to demonstrate whether adequate CEM technology exists have suffered "significant setbacks" (see article on next page). Consequently, EPA would not let CEMs hold up the emissions standards and would proceed with issuing MACT regardless of whether CEMs were required CEMs for hazardous waste incinerators may be required in the future, Gonzalez continued, possibly early in the next century when another round of combustion rules are issued, this time for boilers and industrial furnaces, another class of hazardous waste burners that are operating in some cases with little regulation. Looking at the impact of the rule when finally issued, Jon Hanke, senior associate at EI Ltd., a marketing and research firm for the environmental services industry, predicted that increased regulation will eventually result in fewer cement kilns and on-site
U.S. hazardous waste incineration U.S. combustors burn almost 4 million tons of hazardous waste a year, according to recent EPA data. Cement and aggregate kilns
950,000 tons
Commercial hazardous waste incinerators
500,000 tons
On-site incineration, mostly by chemical industry 1,570,000 tons On-site boilers and industrial furnaces*
850,000 tons
'Not covered by the delayed proposal. New regulations are not expected until 2003 or later for these burners.
incinerators that burn hazardous waste. Fear of new hazardous waste regulations would lead a slow drive toward pollution prevention, he added. However, EI surveys show that no commercial hazardous waste
incineration firms will leave the business, he said. Instead, they will make the pollution control modifications called for and hope new business will come their way when owners of on-site incinerators and cement kilns are eventu-
ally faced with large expenditures for new control equipment. He added that commercial burners may also receive new business when and if the boiler and industrial furnace rule comes out. —JEFF JOHNSON
Continuous emissions monitors for toxics need more work Continuous emissions monitors (CEMs) for air toxics may be available, but they are not dependable or commercially viable, according to federal engineers and scientists who spoke Dec. 10-11 at a technical workshop at EPA's offices in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The "emissions and process monitoring" workshop was sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), EPA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Air and Waste Management Association to disdevelopment of CEMs for toxic air pollutants The most prominent driver of CEM development for this application is DOE's disposal needs and EPA's hazardous waste incineration regulation now stalled in part because of the lack of field-ready CEMs (see story above) Much discussed at the workshop was a DOE program to develop CEMs for use in destroying its stockpile of mixed hazardous and low-level nuclear wastes stored at DOE facilities across the country. DOE, along with the Department of Defense and EPA, has created a $41 million annual federal technology development budget for treating mixed hazardous and nuclear waste, according to Stephen Priebe, an engineer at the DOE Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Much of this funding llHS 20116 into development of CEM technologies that can be used to measure particulates mercurv metals volatile organic compounds various chlorinated comDOunds, and dioxin emissions from incinerators Overall, Priebe stressed that although CEM technologies are available for these air pollutants, most need further development before they can meet current regulatory requirements. Closest to commercialization, he said, are CEMs for particulates and mercury, but even these need more
EPA's rotary kiln incinerator simulator at its Research Triangle Park laboratory is being used to test continuous emissions monitors for metals. Shown above is the kiln's afterburner in which metals are added to the exiting gas stream to challenge the monitoring equipment. (Photo courtesy of EPA)
testing. Farthest off is a dioxin CEM, although a German technology is undergoing tests at the agency's North Carolina facility. Priebe also noted that high on EPA's and DOE's priority list was development of multimetal CEMs. He said DOE and EPA hope their seed funds will bring a commercially viable multimetals CEM to market in 12-18 months. Priebe noted that DOE recendy put together a 100-page background strategy document to guide the federal, multiagency CEM research agenda. Meanwhile, he said, federal officials are "encouraged by what is out there." Increasingly, the need for process controls—rather than regulatory requirements—was becoming the main CEM driver, Priebe added; in other words, the need
for treatment system operators to understand and control incineration is pushing CEMs. "CEMs can provide valuable data that may help in negotiations with regulators to set permitting and testing requirements." In DOE's case, CEMs offer incinerator operators the opportunity to avoid expensive, dangerous, and difficult tests to characterize mixed wastes before burning them. Real-time emissions monitoring holds the potential to give operators the ability to adjust burn parameters and feed requirements immediately and to control emissions from a hodgepodge of wastes. Characterization of the contents of drums of long-buried mixed wastes he said is one of the biggest problems facing DOE's cleanup program .—JEFF JOHNSON
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