UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

## FEB 1 6 

## 20 1 2

J. Ro ge r Crawford Vice President of En vi ronm en t a l Affairs Kai se r A l uminum Fabricated Products , LLC 1 228 Cou rtland A ven u e Park Ridge , Illin o is 60068 De ar Mr. Crawf o rd: OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE

The purpose of th is letter is to respon d to your r equest for an Applicability D etermination re gard in g whe th er and under what conditions a secondary aluminum product io n furnace located at you r Kalam azoo, Michigan facility ma y ch ange its fu rnace classification und e r the National Emission Stand a rd s fo r Hazardous Air Pollu t ants for Secondary A l um i n u m P roduction (40 CF R Part 63, Subpart RRR). The furnace in questio n is loc a t ed at an area source and is a ba tch operated, tilt type. r eve rber ato ry furnace. You ha ve indi cate d that thi s type of furnace allows th e furn ace to be complete ly t app ed out between cycles , in con trast to m ost re verbe rato r y furn aces which are imm ob ile. You h ave had discu ss ions with th e United States Environm e ntal Protec t ion Age n cy ( U SEPA) Reg i o n 5 a nd w i th H eadquarters s ince t h e year 2009. and rece ived two lette r s (October 1 5 ,2009 and June 10 , 2010) from Reg i o n 5. This respon se supersedes the t\vo aforementioned lett e rs, and represents th e Age ncy ' s fin al determination with respect to this matter. Ba se d on the information you p rovided to u s abou t th e furnace and your propo se d ope r ating modes , we conclude that the fu rnace can com pl y with Subpart RRR when it operates w ithin o ne (a nd o nl y one) of the th ree proposed operating mo des fo r the entirety o f any g i ve n melt c ycle. Further, we conclude that you ma y chan ge th e furnac e o perating mode consiste nt with Subpart RRR. The three furn ace ope ratin g modes you have proposed. in regulato ry terminology from Subpart RRR as we ll as applicable inf orma l terms , are: Gro up 1 f urnace with add-on a ir p o llution contro l devices ("Group 1 contro ll ed"); Group I fu rnace w i thout add

- on ai r pollution control devic es (" Group l uncontrolled");

and Group 2 furnace.

Internet Address (URL) • httpJ/www

. epa
. gov Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled PaperThe definitions from Section 63.1503 1 of Group 1 furnace and Gr oup 2 furnace are: "Gro up 1 furnace" means a furnace of any design that melts , hold s, or processes a lum in um that conta ins paint, lubricants , coati ngs , or othe r foreign materials with or without reac tive fluxin g, or processes clean c harg e with reactive fluxing.

" Group 2 furnace" means a furnace of any des i gn that melts, ho lds , or processes only clean charge and that performs no fluxing or performs fluxing using only nonre act ive , non-HAPcon taining / non-HAP-generating gases or agents. Kaiser A l umin u m P roposal: In yo ur correspondence and other information provided to the USEPA, yo u ha ve indicated that th e furnace normally will operate as a Group I furnace accepting painted aluminum scrap and u s i ng r eactive flux w i th hazardous ai r po ll utan t (H AP) emiss i ons co ntro ll e d by a lim e-injected fabric filter. You ha v e prop osed two additional operating mod es : 1. Ope rating the furnace as a Group 2 furnace, w ith clean charge only and no reactive flux , and the fabri c filter not o p e ra ting; 2

. Operating the furnace as a G roup 1 uncontrolled furnace. EPA Res ponse: We interpret 40 CF R P art 63, Subpart RRR to allow a c hange in the designation o f the furna ce to either of the proposed two additional operating modes under the following conditions: 1 . You mu s t not ify and rece ive approv a l from your applicab l e r eg ulatory authori ty whe n changing ope ratin g modes. See 64 Federa l R egiste r 6946 , 6986 (February 11 , 1999 ). The applicable re gu latory authority may provide advance approv al to c han ge operating modes , e . g . , advance ap proval m ay be incorporate d into a permit issued by the applicable r eg u latory auth ori ty . I n such cases , Subp art RRR does not require a separa t e approval action eac h time a change in the operating mode is made. Contemporaneous notic e of change in an op erating mode is p ermiss ibl e unde r Subpart RRR, as lo ng as s uch noti ce is acceptabl e to the re g ul atory authority. 2. Prior to changing ope rating mod es to furnace types that requ ire tes t ing , you must establi s h co mplian ce under each ope r ating mode you intend to employ , consis tent with the testing req uirements in Subp art RRR, including t ho se in Sect ion s 63.151I and 63

. 1512. Testi n g wou l d generally be required if the fac il ity i s s witching to operate as a Group 1 co ntro ll ed or G r oup I u ncontro lled furnace. You would n o t be requ ire d to conduct a new test if a previous te st for a particul ar operatin g mode continued to be

1 All regulatory references are to Sec ti ons o f 40 CFR Part 63, Subp art RRR , unl ess otherwise specified. 2representative of furnace operations for the new operating mod e . D uring testing represe nt in g an operating m ode , t h e fu rnace mu st b e operat ed at the maximum representativ e production rate , while char gi ng scrap with the highest contaminant level within the range of normal operation for the furnace , and while performing all reactive fluxing operations at the highest reactive fluxing rate. 3. When changing furnace operating modes , you are required to meet all applicable Subpart RRR requirements for the new operating mode including but not limited to em issi o n standard s; ope rati ng requ ir e me nts (e

. g . , labeling of th e fu rn ace); mo ni to ring (e.g., scrap inspecti on program or scrap contami nant mon i toring program for Group l uncontrolled mode) ; recordkeeping and repo rting. See , e.g., Sections 63.1505(i), 63.1506,63.1510,63.1513. 4. All operating mode s and associated proce ss and control device operating parameters under which the furnace will operate must be in the facility's Operation, Maintenance , and Monitoring (OM&M) plan as requi re d in Secti on 63 .1 5 1 0(b). 5. The Notification of Compliance Status mu st be updated as required in Section 63.9U) of the General Provisions of 4 0 CFR Part 63. 6. To meet the definition of a Group 1 or Gro up 2 furnace in Section 63.1503 and to ensure that the furnace is ope rating consistent with the operating conditions under which it was tested per condition 2 above, the furnace may opera te only with i n o ne operatin g mode fo r t he entire ty of any melt cyc le . In parti cular , the USEP A interprets the term "Gr oup 2 furnace" , which is defined in Subpart R RR as a furnace that processes "o nly clean charge and that performs no [reactive] fluxing", no t to apply to Kaiser Aluminum's furnace durin g any part of a me lt cycle in w hi ch charge o ther than clean c harge is used, or a ny reactive fluxing is performed. The contents of Kaiser Aluminum 's batch-operated , tilttype, reverberatory furnace mu st be compl e tely drained, and the melt cycle must be completed p rior to changing operating modes. 7. If a malfunction should occur while Kaiser Aluminum is operating the furnace as a Group 1 controlled furnace, it continues to be a Group 1 controlled furnace unless and until the furnace meets the conditions desc r ibed above, i nclud i ng those in paragraph 6. The furnace continues to be subject to Group 1 emission limits and other requirements in Subpart RRR , and it must be managed cons istent with the OM&M plan until at least the end of the current me l t cycle. Kaiser Aluminum shoul d also be aware that chan g ing operating mode s could increase the facility's potential to emit. As an area sou rce, the facility is currently s ubject to a dioxin and f uran e m iss ion li m i t un der Subpart RRR. If t he facili t y's pote nti al to emit incr eases to the majo r sour ce threshold for hazardous air pollutants, addi tional Subpart RRR requ irements wou l d apply including e mission limits for particulate matter and hydrogen chloride.



### 3This response has been coordinated with US EPA Region 5, the Office of General Co unsel , and the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards> and is based on Subpart RRR as currentl y in effe ct. Nothing in this response constitutes a wai v er or revision of any req uirem ent in Subpart RRR, nor does it limit the USEPA authority to revi se the requirements of Subpart RRR. This response is limited to the facts and applicable regulations addressed herein and does not apply to any other set of facts or applicab le requirements. If you have any questions regarding this matter, p l ease contact Scott Throwe of my staff at (202) 564-7013. Sincerely ,



# Ed **g£t~** Acting Director Monitoring, Assistance , and Media Programs Divi sion Office of Compliance ·
cc: Bob Stabler/Richard Maxwell, Ka iser Altuninum Bill Vinzant , Kaiser Alumium Fabricated Products , LLC John Donnan , Kaiser Aluminum Corporation Charles M. Denton, Barnes & Thornburg , L LP

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