UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

FEB 1 6 2012 

J. Roger Crawford 

Vice President of Environmental Affairs 

Kaiser Aluminum Fabricated Products, LLC 

1228 Courtland A venue 

Park Ridge, Illinois 60068 

Dear Mr. Crawford: 

OFFICE OF 

ENFORCEMENT AND 

COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE 

The purpose of this letter is to respond to your request for an Applicability Determination 

regarding whether and under what conditions a secondary aluminum production furnace located 

at your Kalamazoo, Michigan facility may change its furnace classification under the National 

Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Secondary Aluminum Production (40 CFR 

Part 63, Subpart RRR). The furnace in question is located at an area source and is a batch 

operated, tilt type. reverberatory furnace. You have indicated that this type of furnace allows the 

furnace to be completely tapped out between cycles, in contrast to most reverberatory furnaces 

which are immobile. You have had discussions with the United States Environmental Protection 

Agency (USEPA) Region 5 and with Headquarters since the year 2009. and received two letters 

(October 15,2009 and June 10, 2010) from Region 5. This response supersedes the t\vo 

aforementioned letters, and represents the Agency's final determination with respect to 

this matter. 

Based on the information you provided to us about the furnace and your proposed operating 

modes, we conclude that the furnace can comply with Subpart RRR when it operates within one 

(and only one) of the three proposed operating modes for the entirety of any given melt cycle. 

Further, we conclude that you may change the furnace operating mode consistent with 

Subpart RRR. 

The three furnace operating modes you have proposed. in regulatory terminology from 

Subpart RRR as well as applicable informal terms, are: 

Group 1 furnace with add-on air pollution control devices ("Group 1 controlled"); 

Group I furnace without add-on air pollution control devices ("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 Paper 
The definitions from Section 63.1503 1 of Group 1 furnace and Group 2 furnace are: 

"Group 1 furnace" means a furnace of any design that melts, holds, 

or processes aluminum that contains paint, lubricants, coatings, or 

other foreign materials with or without reactive fluxing, or 

processes clean charge with reactive fluxing. 

"Group 2 furnace" means a furnace of any design that melts, holds, 

or processes only clean charge and that performs no fluxing or 

performs fluxing using only nonreactive, non-HAPcontaining/non-HAP-generating gases or agents. 

Kaiser Aluminum Proposal: 

In your correspondence and other information provided to the USEP A, you have indicated that 

the furnace normally will operate as a Group I furnace accepting painted aluminum scrap and 

using reactive flux with hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions controlled by a lime-injected 

fabric filter. 

You have proposed two additional operating modes: 

1. Operating the furnace as a Group 2 furnace, with clean charge only and no 

reactive flux, and the fabric filter not operating; 

2. Operating the furnace as a Group 1 uncontrolled furnace. 

EPA Response: 

We interpret 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart RRR to allow a change in the designation of the furnace to 

either of the proposed two additional operating modes under the following conditions: 

1. You must notify and receive approval from your applicable regulatory authority when 

changing operating modes. See 64 Federal Register 6946, 6986 (February 11 , 1999). 

The applicable regulatory authority may provide advance approval to change operating 

modes, e.g., advance approval may be incorporated into a permit issued by the applicable 

regulatory authority. In such cases, Subpart RRR does not require a separate approval 

action each time a change in the operating mode is made. Contemporaneous notice of 

change in an operating mode is permissible under Subpart RRR, as long as such notice is 

acceptable to the regulatory authority. 

2. Prior to changing operating modes to furnace types that require testing, you must 

establish compliance under each operating mode you intend to employ, consistent with 

the testing requirements in Subpart RRR, including those in Sections 63.151I and 

63.1512. Testing would generally be required if the facility is switching to operate as a 

Group 1 controlled or Group I uncontrolled furnace. You would not be required to 

conduct a new test if a previous test for a particular operating mode continued to be 

1 All regulatory references are to Sections of 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart RRR, unless otherwise specified. 

2 
representative of furnace operations for the new operating mode. During testing 

representing an operating mode, the furnace must be operated at the maximum 

representative production rate, while charging 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 

emission standards; operating requirements (e.g., labeling of the furnace); monitoring 

(e.g., scrap inspection program or scrap contaminant monitoring program for Group l 

uncontrolled mode); recordkeeping and reporting. See, e.g., Sections 63.1505(i), 

63.1506,63.1510,63.1513. 

4. All operating modes and associated process 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 required in Section 63 .1 510(b). 

5. The Notification of Compliance Status must be updated as required in Section 63.9U) of 

the General Provisions of 40 CFR Part 63. 

6. To meet the definition of a Group 1 or Group 2 furnace in Section 63.1503 and to ensure 

that the furnace is operating consistent with the operating conditions under which it was 

tested per condition 2 above, the furnace may operate only within one operating mode for 

the entirety of any melt cycle. In particular, the USEP A interprets the term "Group 2 

furnace", which is defined in Subpart RRR as a furnace that processes "only clean charge 

and that performs no [reactive] fluxing", not to apply to Kaiser Aluminum's furnace 

during any part of a melt cycle in which charge other than clean charge is used, or any 

reactive fluxing is performed. The contents of Kaiser Aluminum's batch-operated, tilttype, reverberatory furnace must be completely drained, and the melt cycle must be 

completed prior 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 described above, including 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 consistent with the OM&M plan until at least the 

end of the current melt cycle. 

Kaiser Aluminum should also be aware that changing operating modes could increase the 

facility's potential to emit. As an area source, the facility is currently subject to a dioxin and 

furan emission limit under Subpart RRR. If the facility's potential to emit increases to the major 

source threshold for hazardous air pollutants, additional Subpart RRR requirements would apply 

including emission limits for particulate matter and hydrogen chloride. 

3 
This response has been coordinated with US EPA Region 5, the Office of General Counsel, and 

the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards> and is based on Subpart RRR as currently in 

effect. Nothing in this response constitutes a waiver or revision of any requirement in 

Subpart RRR, nor does it limit the USEPA authority to revise 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 applicable requirements. 

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Scott Throwe of my staff at 

(202) 564-7013. 

Sincerely, 

Edg£t~ Acting Director 

Monitoring, Assistance, and Media Programs Division 

Office of Compliance · 

cc: Bob Stabler/Richard Maxwell, Kaiser Altuninum 

Bill Vinzant, Kaiser Alumium Fabricated Products, LLC 

John Donnan, Kaiser Aluminum Corporation 

Charles M. Denton, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP 

4