Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

FINAL STAFF REPORT

June 20, 2011

Amendments to Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Furnaces)

Prepared by: Sandra Lowe-Leseth, Air Quality Engineer, Rules

Reviewed by: Stanley Tom, Senior Ai r Quality Engineer, Permit Services Clay Bishop, Supervising Air Quality Inspector, Compliance George Heinen, Supervising Ai r Quality Engineer, Rules Errol Villegas, Manager, Strategies and Incentives Samir Sheikh, Director, Strategies and Incentives

I. SUMMARY

A. Reasons for Rule Development and Implementation

Industrial glass making is a continuous pr ocess with raw materials supplied to the furnace at the front end, and product taken o ff the line at the back end of the process. The raw materials for making glass are silic a sand and soda ash. Melting these basic materials and forming them into the desired product geometry creates the final glass product. Beyond that, the different end products vary widely in raw material additives, processing equipment and conditions, and product quality requirements.

During a rule amend ment in 2002, the Distri ct imposed requirements to limit the amount of excess oxygen (O 2 ) to less than 5% to minimize em issions from glass melting furnaces during a start-up, since the typi cal add-on controls ar e not operational. At the time of rule development, oxy-fuel firing wa s a new technology, and District staff was unaware that the 5% oxygen requirement was incompatible with this new technology. Based on new information, District staff has determined that o xy-fuel firing tech nology, by design, operates in an oxygen-rich en vironment in excess of the ex isting requirement, but still has inherently low NOx emissions during start-up. The proposed amendments in corporate the new information and prevent oxy-fuel fired gla ss melting furnaces from having to comply

with an unnece ssary start-up requirement.

The San Joaquin Valley is home to seven glass- making facili ties and a total of 13 glass melting furnaces subject to Rule 4354 and the pr oposed amendments will allow these

facilities to utilize this di stinctive low-NOx firing technology and continue meeting the District’s stringent emission limits. There will be no emissions impact associated with this rule action given the low emissions inherent to oxy-fuel technology.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

2 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 B. Description of the Project

The purpose of this rule project is to modify a furnace start-up provision to accommodate a particular firing technology. Ox y-fuel firing, meani ng replacing the air for burning fuel with an air stream that is mostly or completely O 2 , is a firing technology that has inherently low NO x emissions because the nitrogen has been removed from

the air stream.

C. Rule Development Process

District staff held a public workshop on Januar y 13, 2011 in order to present and receive comments on the proposed amen dments to Rule 4354. Comments received from affected source operators, consultants, vendors and manufacturers of control technologies, the California Air Resour ces Board (ARB) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) w ould be evaluated and, if appropriate, incorporated into proposed rule provisions.

The proposed rule and final draft staff r eport were published and ma iled to affected sources and interested parties prior to a public hearing to cons ider the adoption of proposed amendments to Rule 4354 by the Distr ict Governing Board on May 19, 2011.

II. CLIMATE CHANGE

The California Global Warming Solutions Ac t of 2006 (AB 32) created a comprehensive, multi-year program to reduc e greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in California, with the overall goal of restoring emi ssions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. In the coming years, ARB and the Legislature will be develop ing policies and progr ams to implement

AB 32. The District believes that the evidenc e and the rationale that climate change is occurring is compelling and convincing. In addition to the long-term consequences of climate change, the District is concerned wit h the potential ramifications of more moderate but imminent changes in weather pa tterns. The Valley depends heavily on agriculture for its economy and has develop ed agricultural practices based on the last several decades of weather patterns. Unant icipated and large fluctuations in these patterns could have a devastating e ffect on the Valley’s economy.

While there are many win-win strategies that can reduc e both GHG and criteria/toxic pollutant emissions, when faced with situati ons that involve tradeoffs between the two,

District staff believes that the more immedi ate public health concerns that may arise from an increase in criteria or toxic po llutant emissions s hould take precedence.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

3 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 III. BACKGROUND

In addition to being the most stringent rule li miting criteria pollutant emissions during normal furnace operation; Rule 4354 outlines the specific requirements to minimize emissions during a furnace start-up. For ex ample, the current ru le limits the maximum number of days for start-up based upon the type of glass produced. There is also a direct requirement to bring the emi ssion control systems on-line as soon as technologically feasible.

In addition, operators are required to minimi ze the amount of excess oxygen in the combustion air during start-up. Minimizing the amount of excess oxygen minimizes the amount of oxygen that would be available to form NOx from a normal combustion airfuel mixture. However, with oxy-fuel fired furnaces, the combustion air stream in these types of furnaces is essentially pure oxygen (greater than 50% O 2 ). The amount of nitrogen available for conversion to NOx is much lower in an oxy-fuel furnace because nothing except pure oxygen comes in with the co mbustion air. Theref ore, the oxy-fuel firing technology achieves a similar effect in limiting NOx formation during the start-up of

a furnace.

As discussed above, oxy-fuel firing was a new technology for glass furnaces and there was no industry experience to draw from when District staff was formulating its emission-minimizing regimen for furnace star t-up. PPG Industries was one of the first facilities to install this new technology and, at that time, expresse d a concern that oxyfueled furnaces would be unable to comply with the start-up requi rements, but had no supporting data. There have bee n several other glass meltin g furnaces that have also installed oxy-fuel firing technology for thei r glass melting furnaces and have expressed similar concern. Therefore, based on the re cent information and the broad applicability of the start-up requirement; District staff is proposing to remove the requirement to meet an excess oxygen limit for oxy-fuel fired glass melting furnaces.

IV. CURRENT RULE 435 4 AND PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

A. Current Rule 4354

Rule 4354 was adopted in September 1994, and it was last amended in September 2010. The rule applies to any glass melting fur nace, but the rule ex empts electric glass furnaces, glass furnaces that are located at a stationary source with a total potential to emit, for all processes, of less than ten tons per year of NOx or le ss than ten tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The current rule limits emission of NOx, VOC, carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulfur (SOx) and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10). T he emission limits depend on type of glass produced, furnace firing te chnology and emission averaging period. Table 1 shows the range of emission limits for various pollutants.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

4 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 Table 1 – Current Rule 4354 Selected Emission Limits

NOx lb/ton glass SOx lb/ton glass PM10 lb/ton glass Glass Type Current Future Current Future Current Future

Container 4.0 1.5 Fire on

natural

gas 0.9 - 1.1 By permit

condition 0.5 Fiberglass 4.0 1.3 - 3.0 0.9 0.5 Flat (Float) 7.0 - 9.2 2.9 - 3.7 1.2 - 1.7 0.7

For detailed requirements, pleas e refer to current Rule 4354, which is available on the District’s website at www.valleyair.org.

B. Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354

1. Section 3.0 – Definitions

Language has been removed from the definition of furnace rebuild that only applied to a compliance schedule in the 2002 version of t he rule. Definitions for acronyms have been modified to have the name spelled out before the acronym, except for PM10,

which was left as is. Two definitions have been added to improve reader clarity:

“oxidant stream” and “standard conditions”.

The definition of “furnace rebuild” has been modified to remove language associated with an obsolete compliance schedule.

2. Section 5.5.4 – Length of Start-up

One word, “actual,” would be removed from the provision and replaced by “approved.” The change clarifies the in tent of the provision.

3. Section 5.5.5 – Excess Oxygen Limit during Start-up

Section 5.5 specifies the necessary steps to minimize emissions during furnace startup. The current rule already has a ma ximum number of days for start-up. The maximum start-up period depends on the type of glass produced. During start-up, there is a direct requirement to bring the emission control systems on-line as soon as technologically feasible. I ndirectly, operators are required to minimize the amount of

excess O 2 in the combustion air during start-up. Minimizing the amount of excess O 2 minimizes the amount of O 2 that would be available to form NOx from a normal

combustion air-fuel mixture. At the very beginning of the start-up, when the emission control systems cannot provide adequate emissi on control, operators have much more

control over how much air is fed into the burners compared to operation of an add-on emission control system.

District staff is proposing that language be added to Section 5.5.5 of t he rule to exempt oxy-fuel fired furnaces from the excess oxygen requi rement when the furnace’sSAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

5 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 combustion air is greater than 50% oxy gen. The 50% oxygen level was chosen because oxy-fuel fired is defi ned in the rule as “an operation of a glass melting furnace where greater than 50% of t he oxidant for the fuel is provided from enriched oxygen

streams.” In the situation w here the operator of an oxy-fuel furnace uses a gas stream that is less than 50% oxygen, the operator would be subject to the limit of 5% excess

O 2 . As previously stated, oxy-fuel firing a control device and reduces NOx by reducing available nitrogen in the combustion air, independent of the amount of excess oxygen.

V. STATE IMPLEMEMTATION PLAN (SIP) IMPLICATIONS

EPA has a policy for SIPs regarding excess em issions during malfunctions, start-up, shutdown, and maintenance. While the curr ent rule’s start-up, shutdown, and idling provisions are already approved into the California SIP, bec ause the proposed amendments make changes to the SIP-approv ed procedures, the st art-up section is being re-evaluated in light of the changes . The EPA policy on start-up and shutdown contains seven specific requirements in or der for a rule to have an exemption from emission limits during start- up/shutdown. The following paragraphs discuss how the proposed amendments would affect the policy fo r start-up exemptions set out by EPA.

A. Narrowly-Defined Source Ca tegory and Control Technology

- The revision must be limited to specific , narrowly-defined source categories using specific control strategies.

Current Rule 4354 applies to a specific source category – glass melting furnaces. In order to be exempt from the emission limits, the furnaces must be undergoing start-up. The scope of the proposed amendm ent is limited to glass melting furnaces that are oxyfuel fired. Further, the proposed amendments cap the exc eption to the excess-oxygen limit by allowing the excepti on only when the combustion air meets the definition of oxyfuel firing.

B. Minimize Impact of Uncont rolled Emissions during Start-up

The EPA policy has four criteria that can be grouped together as aspects of minimizing emissions during start-up. Sect ion 5.5 of the current rule addresses all of these issues.

- Use of the control strategy for this sour ce category must be technically infeasible during start-up or shutdown periods.

In the general sense, add-on emission contro l systems are not operat ing during start-up

because the furnace exhaust is not hot enough for the control system(s) to work effectively, and therefore, c ontrolling emissions to a specific limit is technically infeasible. Oxy-fuel fired furnaces, howev er, are inherently controlled during start-up since this process reduces NOx formation in the combustion process.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

6 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 - The frequency and duration of operation in the start-up or s hutdown mode must

be minimized to the maxi mum extent practicable.

- All possible steps must be taken to minimize the impact of emissions during startup and shutdown on ambient air quality.

- At all times, the facility must be o perated in a manner consistent with good practice for minimizing emissions, and the source must have used best efforts regarding planning, design, and operating procedures to meet the otherwise applicable emission limitation.

Operators are required to file a request for start-up detai ling how they plan to bring the furnaces from ambient temperature to glass- melting temperature as well as listing all of the interim steps. Additionally the plan must include how the operator intends to minimize emissions during the start-up proc ess. The plan must be approved by the District and EPA prior to beginning the shutdow n of the furnace fo r the repair. In approving the start-up plan, both the District and EPA can evaluate whether the operator has met the requirement to minimize emissions and set the maximum time that the start-up can take. Star ting up a glass furnace takes weeks since glass furnaces

must heat tons of sand wit hout heating the furnace so quickly that the insulating refractory cracks or breaks from thermal shock. The EPA criteria listed above are satisfied by Section 5.5 and would not be affected by the proposed amendments.

C. Records for Start-Up

- The owner or operator’s actions during start-up and shutdown periods must be documented by properly signed, contem poraneous operating logs, or other

relevant evidence.

The current rule requires t hat an operator notif y the District when they are beginning start-up and to keep appropriate documentation to support the claim. Since each facility subject to the rule is diffe rent, the exact required record s are determined as part of the approval of the start-up plan. The proposed amendment will not change the records required for start-up.

D. Potential Emissions during Start-up

- As part of its justification of the SI P revision, the state should analyze the potential worst-case emissions that c ould occur during start-up and shutdown.

Oxy-fuel furnaces have NOx control as an inherent part of the combustion system, so the exemption from the 5% excess O 2 requirement will not in crease NOx emission. Oxy-fuel oxidant streams can contain up to 50% N 2 but are more likely to contain less

than 5% N 2 , especially during start-up. Bur ner manufacturers recommend 100% O 2 (or, equivalently, 0% N 2 ) to be used during these times. Us ing this logic, there is less N 2 available for conversion to NOx than an oxidant stream of ambient air, which containsSAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

7 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 about 79% N 2 . The proposed amendment to Secti on 5.5.5 does impos e the limit of

excess O 2 for those unusual times during start-up when the oxidant stream is not an oxy-fuel stream, thereby pr otecting the environments as much as is technologically

feasible.

Within the District, the oxy-fuel furnaces control SOx and PM10 through the use of an add-on control system. The pr oposed amendment does not affe ct other provisions of Section 5.5 to use best efforts regardi ng planning, design and operating procedures during the start-up period to minimize em issions. Compared to the current SIPapproved start-up provisions, the propos ed amendments are not expected to change

the level of SOx and PM10 em issions from start-up.

VI. IMPACT OF PROPOSED AMEN DMENTS ON OTHER DISTRICT

COMMITMENTS

A. Impact of Proposed Amendments on District Attainment Strategies

This rule project is not a control measure in any attainment plan and is not expected to

reduce or increase emissions from glass melting furnaces. For these reasons, District

staff has concluded that attainme nt of any ambient ai r quality standard will not be affected by this rule project. The pr oposed amendments will not affect either the District’s 2007

Ozone Plan or the District’s 2 008 PM2.5 Plan (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less) because no emission limits ha ve been c hanged, nor are the amendments expected to affect emissions from this source category.

The federal Clean Air Act (Act) requires that attainment plans m eet reasonable further progress (RFP) by achieving incremental emi ssion reductions to ensure attainment of
the National Ambient Air Qua lity Standards (NAAQS) by the attainment date. The Act does not identify specific emission reduc tion benchmarks that must be met for particulate matter attainment plans. EPA has interpreted the Act’s RFP requirement using the concept of achieving (generally) li near progress toward the standard. The

District’s 2008 PM2.5 Plan contains an RFP demonstration. However, the proposed

amendments do not have emission reductions or increases associated with them, so it is not expected that t he RFP will be affected.

B. Consideration for the Condensable Fraction of PM2.5

Certain high-temperature processes emit gas eous pollutants that rapidly condense into particle form in the ambient air. After J anuary 1, 2011, areas that are nonattainment for
the National Ambient Air Q uality Standard (NAAQS) for PM 2.5 are to consider the condensable fraction of directly emitted PM2.5 for purposes of establishing the

emissions limits for:SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

8 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354  Reasonable Further Progress (RFP), in which an area shows continuous reductions of directly emitted PM2.5 and precursors, with sufficient emissions

reductions to demonstrate attain ment by the applicable deadline

 Reasonably Available Control Technolog y (RACT) and Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACM), in which a nonattainment area shows that it is adopting technologies and measures reasonabl y available, considering technical and economic feasibility; su fficient to demonstrate expeditious attainment; and

meet RFP. (Code of Federal Regulations Title 40 Section 51.1002(c))

The District established emi ssions limits for its attainment, RFP, and RACT/RACM

demonstrations in the 2008 PM2.5 Plan for the PM2.5 NAAQS as set by EPA in 1997.

The District continues to evaluate condensable particulates and other directly emitted PM2.5 to improve its PM2.5 em issions inventory for future attainment plan efforts.

This rule project for Rule 4354 was neit her included in, nor does it impede, the

emissions limits set in the 2008 PM2.5 Plan . The District is not currently aware of significant uncontrolled condensable PM2.5 em issions or related condensable PM2.5 emissions control technologies for the source s affected by this amendment. Therefore, the District has satisfied any applicable requirement to consider condensable particulates from this s ource at this time.

VII. EMISSION REDUCTIONS

The proposed amendments only affect operations of oxy-fuel fired furnaces during startup and these operations have inherently low NOx emissions due to the enriched oxygen stream in the combustion air. Therefore, no impact on emissions is anticipated for this rule amendment project.

VIII. COSTS AND COST EF FECTIVENESS ANALYSIS

The California Health and Safety Code 40920 .6(a) requires District staff to conduct a cost effectiveness analysis of available em ission control options prior to adopting each Best Available Retrofit Control Technolog y (BARCT) rule. The proposed amendments do not implement a new emissi on limit or other requirem ent that would change the current emission requirements; therefore, a cost effect iveness analysis was not carried

out.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

9 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 IX. SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS

Pursuant to state law, District staff is required to perform a socioeconomic impact analysis prior to adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule that has significant impacts on air quality or that will str engthen emission limitations. The proposed amendments to Rule 4354 would have not have a signific ant impact on air quality nor would it strengthen emission limitations, but are only intended to provi de operators of oxy-fuel fired furnaces relief from a requirement that does not apply to these furnaces. For this reason, a socioeconomic impac t analysis was not performed.

X. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Pursuant to the California Environmental Qua lity Act (CEQA), District staff has reviewed the project for potentia l environmental impacts resulting from the implem entation of the project, specifically Section 5.5.5 which exem pts oxy-fuel fired furnaces from the excess oxygen requirement when the furnace combus tion air exceeds 50% oxygen. Rule 4354 currently contains management pr actices that would limit exce ss emission to the extent feasible. The proposed amendments exclude ox y-fuel fired furnaces from a practice that does not apply to firing technologies t hat do not result in the release of NOx emissions or NOx-forming compounds. Due to the nature of oxy-fuel firing (see Section V for details), NOx emissions from oxy-fuel furnaces will be no greater than if they do not meet current excess oxygen limits. Further , glass furnace start-up is a rare event. For a given furnace, start-up would occu r only once every seven to twelve years depending on the type of glass pr oduced and other variables. As such, implementation of the project would not result in an in crease in NOx emissions and environmental impacts are negligible.

Greenhouse gas emissions are not expec ted to increase with the proposed

amendments to Rule 4354. The amount of fuel burned during startup will not change if the amendments are adopted, m eaning that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during start-up will not change.

District staff concludes that there is no subs tantial evidence in t he whole record before the District that the pro posed amendments to Rule 4354 would cause any adverse

effects on the environment. T he District finds that the proj ect is exempt per the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects whic h have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment (CCR §15061(b)(3)). For these reasons, staff is proposing to file a Notice of Exemption upon Board adoption of the proposed amendments to Rule

4354.SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT

Final Staff Report: Rule 4354 (Glass Melting Fu rnaces) June 20, 2011

10 Final Staff Report with Appendices for Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 XI. RULE CONSISTENCY ANALYSIS

Prior to adopting, amending, or repealing a ru le or regulation, California Health and Safety Code § 40727.2 requires a written analysis that identifies and compares requirements of the proposed rule with corr esponding, existing and proposed District rules and corresponding United St ates Environmental Protec tion Agency (EPA) rules, regulations, and guidelines. Based on the anal ysis, District staff concludes that the proposed amendments to Rule 4354 are consistent with other District rule s and are not in conflict with these rules. Further, the propo sed rule amendments are consistent with EPA rules, regulations, and guidelines that apply to the same source category. Th e analysis is presented in Appendix B of t he Final Draft Staff Report.

XII. REFERENCES

1. Ray C. Yee, “PPG Industries, In c. – Comments on Proposed Amendments to Rule 4354 for Glass Melting Furnaces , June 26, 2008 Draft” – Correspondence dated July 10, 2008

2. Ray C. Yee, “PPG Industr ies, Inc. – Rule 4354 5.5. 5 – Excess O2 on Start-up” – Correspondence dated August 17, 2010

3. U.S. Environmental Pr otection Agency “Sate Implem entation Plans (SIPs): Policy Regarding Excess Emissions during Malfunctions, Star tup, and Shutdown”

Memorandum from Steven A. Herman and Robert Perciasepe to Regional Administrators, Regions I – X.

4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “Clean Air Fine Particulate Implementation Rule” Federal Regi ster Volume 72 pages 20586 – 20667.