SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 FINAL STAFF REPORT 

2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment to Extend the Rule 4905 (Natural Gas-Fired, FanType Residential Central Furnaces) Amendment Schedule 

 

June 17, 2010 

 Prepared by: Nichole Corless, Air Quality Specialist 

Jessi Fierro, Senior Air Quality Specialist 

 Reviewed by: Kevin Wing, Air Quality Specialist 

Joven Nazareno, Senior Air Quality Engineer 

George Heinen, Supervising Air Quality Engineer 

Lucinda Roth, Supervising Air Quality Specialist 

Errol Villegas, Planning Manager 

Scott Nester, Senior Projects Manager 

Morgan Lambert, Director of Compliance 

Samir Sheikh, Director of Strategy and Incentives 

I. SUMMARY

A. The Amendment to the 2008 PM2.5 Plan

The United Stated Environmental Protection Agency has designated the San Joaquin 

Valley Air Basin (Valley) as nonattainment for the national ambient air quality 

standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerometric diameter of 2.5 microns 

or less (PM2.5). The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s (District) 2008 

PM2.5 Plan, adopted by the District Governing Board on April 30, 2008, sets forth a 

strategy for bringing the Valley into attainment for PM2.5. 

As part of the PM2.5 attainment strategy, the District committed to amending Rule 

4905 (Natural Gas-Fired, Fan-Type Residential Central Furnaces) in the second 

quarter of 2010. Rule 4905 reduces emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which in 

turn reduces the formation of ammonium nitrate particulates. However, based on 

information obtained during the rule development process, District staff has 

determined that additional time is necessary to explore potential for developing an 

incentive program for residential furnaces, assist with the development of new low 

NOx burner (LNB) technologies through the District’s Technology Advancement 

Program (TAP), and benefit from findings of the South Coast’s technology 

assessment for residential furnaces expected April of 2013. These efforts would 

better position the District to develop a rule based on the best and latest available 

technology and potentially achieve more reductions from Amended Rule 4905 than 

would otherwise be possible. Therefore, District staff proposes to amend the 2008 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

1
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 

Final Staff Report: 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905 June 17, 2010 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

 

2

PM2.5 Plan to extend the rule adoption schedule for this rule no later than the fourth 

quarter of 2014. Since the District did not quantify projected emissions reductions 

from this control measure in the 2008 PM2.5 Plan, this rule amendment extension 

would not impact any reasonable further progress demonstrations made for the 2008 

PM2.5 Plan. 

B. Reasons for the Rule Adoption Date Extension 

Current Rule 4905 applies to fan-type, residential central furnaces fired by natural 

gas. The rated heat input capacity for these units is less than 175,000 British thermal 

units (BTU) per hour, or a rated cooling capacity of less than 65,000 BTU per hour for 

combination heating and cooling units. 

Rule 4905 requires any new or replacement natural gas-fired, fan-type residential 

central furnace to have NOx emissions less than or equal to 0.093 pounds per million 

BTU (lb/MMBtu) heat output, or 55 parts per million (ppm) NOx at 3.00% O2 stack 

gas by volume (dry). This equates to an emissions limitation of 40 nanograms of 

NOx perJoule (ng/J), the unit of measure commonly used in rulemaking for this 

category. 

Exemptions to Rule 4905 include: 

• Units installed in manufactured homes 

• Units using fuels other than natural gas; and 

• Non-fan-type residential central furnaces 

Several California air districts have adopted natural gas residential furnace rules with 

emissions standards equal to those in the current District Rule 4905 (40 ng/J), such 

as: 

• Bay Area Air Quality Management District Regulation 9, Rule 4 

• San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) Rule 69.6 

• San Luis Obispo County APCD Rule 428 

• Ventura APCD Rule 74.22 

• Yolo Solano AQMD Rule 2.44. 

In November 2009, South Coast amended Rule 1111 for residential, natural gas 

furnaces, lowering the NOx emission limit to 14 ng/J, based on the current 

understanding of anticipated technology. However, as noted in the South Coast staff 

report, there is currently no currently available technology to achieve this 14 ng/J 

limit. South Coast included a provision in their rule adoption to, by April 2013, 

complete an assessment of applicable NOx control technologies that can meet the 

emission limit (14 ng/J) and adjust the rule, if necessary. 

 

In lieu of developing a rule based on technology not yet developed or commercially 

available, the District proposes to partner with South Coast to fund technology 

advances such as LNB prototypes for residential furnaces and explore incentive 
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 

Final Staff Report: 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905 June 17, 2010 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

 

3

allel 

. DISCUSSION

. Affected Source Category 

ule 4905 applies to fan type residential central furnaces fired by natural gas. These 

. Technology Advancement Program 

he District’s Governing Board recently approved the Technology Advancement 

he 

h 

. Incentive Program 

ebates are available for California homeowners installing higher-efficiency furnace 

 many situations, District incentive programs are necessary to encourage the 

s 

h the 

compliance schedules determined during the rule development process. 

options to expedite the availability of LNB technology. The District proposed to 

extend the Rule 4905 amendment timeframe to the fourth quarter of 2014 in par

with the technology assessment timeline established by South Coast in their rule. 

Through the efforts made during this period, the District would develop a rule based

on the most advanced proven technology and associated emission limits feasible. 

II

A

R

units are less than 175,000 British thermal units (BTU) rated heat input capacity per 

hour, or a rated cooling capacity of less than 65,000 BTU per hour for combination 

heating and cooling units. The United States Department of Energy regulates the 

efficiency standards for these units and recently amended the national efficiency 

standard to 80% Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE, the indicator of percent

energy input that is turned into usable heat). 

B

T

Program (TAP) to support the research and advancement of low NOx emissions 

technologies, such as those being developed for residential furnaces. As part of t

TAP initiative, District staff recommends that the Governing Board authorize the 

District to actively partner with South Coast and to contribute $50,000 to the Sout

Coast technology assessment project for LNB technology research and prototypes.

The District’s active involvement will help expedite the commercial availability of this 

control technology and thus the resultant emission reductions that will be achieved 

from this technology. 

C

R

units (units with above 90% AFUE). Federal tax credits are currently available for 

many furnaces with at least a 95% AFUE through the Energy Star program. 

In

further commercial development and widespread use of new technology, such a

LNB in the Valley. Once the technology has been developed, District staff will 

investigate the potential of designing a residential furnace incentive program to 

provide incentives for natural gas-fired, fan-type central furnaces that comply wit

14 ng/J emissions limit before the regulatory compliance date. The incentive amount 

and distribution dates would be determined based on the regulatory controls and 
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 

Final Staff Report: 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905 June 17, 2010 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

 

4

. Potential Regulation Controls 

ARB) nor the U.S. Environmental 

rotection Agency (EPA) has established a best available control technology (BACT) 

e 

D

Neither the California Air Resources Board (

P

for this source category. Possible controls for this source category could involv

adaptations of current boiler technology, including combustion modification and 

exhaust gas treatment. 

Combustion Modification

ystems reduce thermal NOx formation by reducing peak 

ame temperature. Such controls include low excess air operation, staged 

tra Low 

lone or in combination with Flue Gas 

ecirculation (FGR). FGR recycles a portion of the exhaust stream back into the 

Combustion modification s

fl

combustion, overfire air ports, biased firing, and placing selected burners out-ofservice. Combustion modification is also achieved through Low NOx and Ul

NOx burners, including staged air burners, staged fuel burners, pre-mix burners, 

internal recirculation, and radiant burners. 

Combustion control systems may be used a

R

burner windbox, mixing low oxygen air with combustion air before it enters the 

combustion chamber. Reducing peak temperature and oxygen in the combustion 

zone reduces thermal NOx formation. 

Exhaust Gas Treatment

Adding an Exhaust Gas Treatment (EGT) system after the boiler firebox reduces 

Ox to molecular nitrogen. EGT uses Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and 

by 

ms 

 may 

 such as LNB technologies may be identified through the 

istrict’s technology assessment for boilers, South Coast’s technology assessment 

N

Selective Noncatalytic Reduction (SNCR). EGT reduces NOx in the exhaust gas 

injecting urea or ammonia into the post-combustion zone of the boiler. SCR syste

store ammonia in aqueous form or anhydrous form, generated on demand or 

released from urea. SCR systems can be prone to operating problems and ammonia

emissions if not operated per SCR manufacturer instructions. Therefore, EGT

not be practical for use in residential furnaces due to high capital equipment costs 

and operations/maintenance costs including technical challenges for homeowners to 

operate the technology. 

Additional control options

D

for boilers, and work funded through the District’s TAP program. 
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 

Final Staff Report: 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905 June 17, 2010 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

 

5

III. RULE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 

The District presented the objectives and project milestones for the Rule 4905 

rulemaking project at scoping meeting in May 2009. Stakeholder comments, District 

staff background research, and the South Coast’s Rule 1111 technical information 

indicate that the necessary technology for the planned Rule 4905 amendment is not 

yet commercially available. Therefore, the rule development completion date in the 

2008 PM2.5 Plan should be amended from the second quarter of 2010 to the fourth 

quarter of 2014. District staff is asking the District Governing Board to approve this 

extension at the June 17, 2010 public hearing. A public review period for this staff 

report is being held from May 18 – June 1, 2010. 

Even with the rule amendment rescheduling, District staff will continue to work on this 

project in several ways: 

• Monitor South Coast implementation of Rule 1111 and evaluate their 2014 

assessment residential furnace control technologies. 

• Assess new control technologies as they become available. 

• Hold workshops on and proceed with document preparation to adopt the 

amendment before the new fourth quarter 2014 deadline, if South Coast 

completes their 2014 technology assessment early or if technology availability 

allows. 

• Evaluate potential emission reductions from this source category in future 

attainment plans (2011 – 2014). 

• With Governing Board authorization, partner with South Coast and to 

contribute $50,000 to the South Coast technology assessment project for LNB 

technology research and prototypes to help expedite the commercial 

availability of this control technology. 

• With Governing Board authorization, design a residential furnace incentive 

program for natural gas-fired, fan-type central furnaces that comply with the 14 

ng/J emissions limit before the regulatory compliance date. 

By no later than the fourth quarter of 2014, after a public rule development process, 

the District will bring a Rule 4905 amendment to the District Governing Board for 

approval. This rule will incorporate all feasible control measures and take into 

consideration new technology and incentive programs. 

IV. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) PROCESS 

District staff does not expect the Rule 4905 deadline extension to adversely impact 

the attainment goals of the District’s 2008 PM2.5 Plan. Therefore, extending the 

adoption deadline for Draft Amendments to Rule 4905 is not a “project” under CEQA 

and an environmental impact analysis is not required. 
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 

 

Final Staff Report: 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905 June 17, 2010 

Final Staff Report 

for the 2008 PM2.5 Plan Amendment, Rule 4905

 

6

. REFERENCES 

Air Pollution Control District, 2008 PM2.5 Plan, April 30, 

2008. (http://www.valleyair.org/Air_Quality_Plans/PM_Plans.htm

V

1. San Joaquin Valley Unified 

) 

2. ns from NaturalGas-Fired, Fan-Type Central Furnaces), amended November 6, 2009. 

3. Amendments to 

Rule 1111 (NOx Emissions from Natural-Gas-Fired, Fan-Type Central Furnaces), 

4. gy, Energy Star Program. (http://www.energystar.gov

South Coast Air Quality Management District, Rule 1111 (NOx Emissio

South Coast Air Quality Management District, Staff Report for Proposed

October 28, 2009. 

Department of Ener ) 

xides from 

Fan Type Residential Furnaces), adopted December 7, 1983. 

6. ral Gas Fired Fan-Type 

Central Furnaces), adopted June 17, 1998. 

7. l District, Rule 428 (Control of Oxides of 

Nitrogen from Residential Natural Gas-Fired Water Heaters and Furnaces), adopted July 

8. ir Pollution Control District, Rule 74.22 (Natural-Gas-Fired, Fan-Type Central 

Furnaces), adopted November 9, 1993. 

9. trict, Rule 2.44 (Central Furnaces), adopted May 

13, 2009. 

5. Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Regulation 9, Rule 4 (Nitrogen O

San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, Rule 69.6 (Natu

San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Contro

7, 1995. 

Ventura A

Yolo Solano Air Quality Management Dis