18 AAC 50.055. Industrial processes and fuel-burning equipment

(a) Visible emissions, excluding condensed water vapor, from an industrial process or fuel-burning equipment may not reduce visibility through the exhaust effluent by

(1) more than 20 percent averaged over any six consecutive minutes, except as provided in (2) - (9) of this subsection;

(2) more than 30 percent averaged over any six consecutive minutes for fuel-burning equipment in operation before November 1, 1982, and using more than 20 percent woodwaste as fuel;

(3) more than 55 percent for a urea prilling tower in operation before July 1, 1972, averaged over any six consecutive minutes, nor more than 40 percent, based on a daily 24-hour average of five-second measurements by continuous opacity monitoring instrumentation approved by the department and that conforms to Performance Specification Number 1 in 40 C.F.R. Part 60, Appendix B, adopted by reference in 18 AAC 50.040;

(4) 20 percent or greater averaged over any six consecutive minutes for an asphalt plant constructed or modified after June 11, 1973;

(5) 20 percent or greater averaged over any six consecutive minutes for process emissions, other than from a pneumatic cleaner, at a coal preparation plant constructed or modified after November 1, 1982;

(6) 10 percent or greater averaged over any six consecutive minutes for a pneumatic cleaner constructed or modified at a coal preparation plant after November 1, 1982;

(7) 10 percent or greater averaged over any six consecutive minutes for process emissions, other than from a kiln, at a portland cement plant constructed or modified after November 1, 1982;

(8) 20 percent or greater averaged over any six consecutive minutes for a kiln constructed or modified at a portland cement plant after November 1, 1982; and

(9) more than 20 percent for more than three minutes in any one hour, except for an additional three minutes in any one hour for a coal burning boiler that began operation before August 17, 1971, if

(A) the visible emissions are caused by startup, shutdown, soot-blowing, grate cleaning, or other routine maintenance specified in an operating permit issued under this chapter;

(B) the owner or operator of the boiler monitors visible emissions by continuous opacity monitoring instrumentation that

(i) conforms to Performance Specification 1 in 40 C.F.R. Part 60, Appendix B, adopted by reference in 18 AAC 50.040; and

(ii) completes one cycle of sampling and analyzing for each successive 15-second period;

(C) the owner or operator of the boiler provides the department with a demonstration that the particulate matter emissions from the boiler allowed by this opacity limit will not cause or contribute to a violation of the ambient air quality standards for PM-10 in 18 AAC 50.010, or cause the maximum allowable increases for PM-10 in 18 AAC 50.020 to be exceeded; and

(D) the federal administrator approves a facility-specific revision to the state implementation plan, required under 42 U.S.C. 7410, authorizing the application of this opacity limit instead of the opacity limit otherwise applicable under this section.

(b) Particulate matter emitted from an industrial process or fuel-burning equipment may not exceed, per cubic foot of exhaust gas corrected to standard conditions and averaged over three hours,

(1) 0.05 grains, except as provided in (2) - (6) of this subsection, (d) - (f) of this section, and 18 AAC 50.060;

(2) 0.1 grains for a steam generating plant fueled by

(A) coal, and in operation before July 1, 1972;

(B) coal, and rated less than 250 million Btu per hour heat input; or

(3) 0.1 grains for an industrial process in operation before July 1, 1972, except as provided in (6) of this subsection;

(4) 0.15 grains for fuel-burning equipment in operation before November 1, 1982, and using more than 20 percent woodwaste as fuel;

(5) 0.04 grains for an asphalt plant constructed or modified after June 11, 1973; or

(6) 0.04 grains for a urea prilling tower.

(c) Sulfur-compound emissions, expressed as sulfur dioxide, from an industrial process or from fuel-burning equipment may not exceed 500 ppm averaged over a period of three hours, except as provided in (d) - (f) of this section and 18 AAC 50.060.

(d) At a petroleum refinery, emissions from the following sources, constructed or modified after November 1, 1982, may not exceed the following:

(1) for a catalytic cracking unit catalyst regenerator

(A) 1.0 kilogram of particulate matter per 1,000 kilograms of coke burnoff;

(B) 43.0 additional grams of particulate matter per million joules supplemental heat attributable to fuels burned in a catalyst regenerator waste heat boiler; and

(2) for a sulfur recovery plant rated at more than 20 long tons per day

(A) 250 ppm sulfur dioxide at zero percent oxygen on a dry basis; or

(B) 10 ppm hydrogen sulfide and a total of 300 ppm reduced sulfur compounds, expressed as sulfur dioxide, at zero percent oxygen on a dry basis, if the air pollutants are not oxidized before release to the atmosphere; and

(3) for fuel-burning equipment, a sulfur dioxide concentration, averaged over three hours, equal to whichever of the following is applicable:

(A) for equipment burning only fuel gas, the concentration of uncontrolled emissions that would result from burning fuel gas containing 230 milligrams hydrogen sulfide per dry standard cubic meter;

(B) for fuel-burning equipment that does not burn fuel gas, 500 ppm;

(C) for fuel-burning equipment that burns a combination of fuel gas and other fuels, a concentration based on the allowable emissions in (A) and (B) of this paragraph, prorated by the proportion of fuel gas and other fuels to the total fuel burned in the equipment.

(e) At a coal preparation plant, emissions from the following sources, if constructed or modified after November 1, 1982, may not exceed the following:

(1) for a thermal drying unit, 70 milligrams of particulate matter per cubic meter of exhaust gas at standard conditions; and

(2) for a pneumatic coal-cleaning unit, 40 milligrams of particulate matter per cubic meter of exhaust gas at standard conditions.

(f) At a portland cement plant, emissions from the following sources, if constructed or modified after November 1, 1982, may not exceed the following:

(1) for a clinker cooler, 0.050 kilograms of particulate matter per 1,000 kilograms of feed on a dry basis to the kiln; and

(2) for a kiln, 0.15 kilograms of particulate matter per 1,000 kilograms of feed on a dry basis.

(g) Release of materials other than process emissions, products of combustion, or materials introduced to control pollutant emissions from a stack at a stationary source constructed or modified after November 1, 1982, is prohibited except as authorized by a construction permit, Title V permit, or air quality control permit issued before October 1, 2004.

History: Eff. 1/18/97, Register 141; am 6/21/98, Register 146; am 11/4/99, Register 152; am 5/3/2002, Register 162; am 10/1/2004, Register 171

Authority: AS 46.03.020

AS 46.14.010

AS 46.14.020

AS 46.14.030

Sec. 30, ch. 74,

SLA 1993

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