Subpart L – Fluorinated Gas Production
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Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule: EPA's Response to Public Comments Subpart L – Fluorinated Gas Production Subpart L – Fluorinated Gas Production U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Atmospheric Programs Climate Change Division Washington, D.C. FOREWORD This document provides responses to public comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Proposed Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule: Additional Sources of Fluorinated GHGs: Subpart L, Fluorinated Gas Production. EPA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (FR) on April 12, 2010 (75 FR 18652). EPA received comments on this proposed rule via mail, e-mail, and at a public hearing held in Washington D.C. on April 20, 2010. Copies of all comments submitted are available at the EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room. Comments letters and transcripts of the public hearings are also available electronically through http://www.regulations.gov by searching Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0927. EPA prepared this document in multiple sections, with each section focusing on a different broad category of comments on the rule. EPA’s responses to comments are generally provided immediately following each comment. In some cases, EPA provided responses to specific comments or groups of similar comments in the preamble to the final rulemaking. Rather than repeating those responses in this document, EPA has referenced the preamble. Comments were assigned to specific section of this document based on an assessment of the principal subject of the comment; however, some comments inevitably overlap multiple subject areas. For this reason, EPA encourages the public to read the other sections of this document relevant to their interests. November 2010 2 Table of Contents 1 Definition of Source Category ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 F GHG Production Processes ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 CFC and HCFC Production Processes .......................................................................... 4 1.3 Transformation Processes ............................................................................................. 7 1.4 Coverage of emissions downstream of production measurement (other than transformation and destruction) ...................................................................................... 9 1.5 Other ............................................................................................................................ 12 2 Reporting Threshold .............................................................................................................. 13 3 No Comments ....................................................................................................................... 15 4 Detailed GHG Emission Calculation Procedures/Equations in the Rule ............................... 16 4.1 GWPs not Available for all F GHG Compounds ........................................................... 17 4.2 Mass Balance Calculations .......................................................................................... 20 4.2.1 - Mass Balance Error Calculation ........................................................................ 26 4.2.3 - Allow Alternative MB Approach for Transformation Processes ......................... 35 4.3 Emission Factor and Emission Calculation Factor Methods ........................................ 37 4.3.1 - Preliminary Estimate of Emissions by Process Vent ......................................... 38 4.3.2 - Cut-offs for Low-Emission or Controlled Process Vents ................................... 44 4.3.4 - Emission Factor Approach ................................................................................ 52 4.3.5 - Scope of the Emission Factor ........................................................................... 57 4.3.6 - Equipment Leaks .............................................................................................. 57 4.4 Allow Combination of Mass Balance, Process Vent testing and Engineering Calculations .................................................................................................................. 73 4.5 Other ............................................................................................................................ 74 5 - Monitoring and QA/QC Requirements ................................................................................... 79 5.1 Initial Scoping Test ....................................................................................................... 79 5.2 Mass Balance Approach .............................................................................................. 89 5.3 Process Vent Emissions Factor Testing ....................................................................... 90 5.3.1 - Operating scenarios .......................................................................................... 90 5.3.2 - Identify Emission Episodes (e.g., using emissions profiles) .............................. 93 5.3.3 - Continuous Process Vent Emissions Factor Testing ........................................ 95 5.3.4 - Accuracy and Precision for Process Activity ................................................... 102 5.4 Allow Alternative Sampling and Analytical Methods (MB and process vents) ............ 105 5.5 Calibration Standards ................................................................................................. 111 5.6 Destruction Device Efficiency Determination ............................................................. 115 5.6.1 – Destruction Device Testing ............................................................................ 115 5.6.2 - Detection Limit Issues ..................................................................................... 121 5.6.3 - Hazardous Waste Combustors ....................................................................... 122 5.6.4 - Process Scrubbers Considered Destruction Devices ..................................... 123 5.6.5 - PIC Testing ..................................................................................................... 125 6 Procedures for Estimating Missing Data ............................................................................. 126 November 2010 3 7 Data Reporting Requirements ............................................................................................. 127 7.1 Confidentiality Concerns ............................................................................................ 127 7.2 Other comments ......................................................................................................... 133 8 Records that Must be maintained ....................................................................................... 142 9 No comments ...................................................................................................................... 142 10 Other subpart 1 comments .................................................................................................. 142 10.1 Definitions ....................................................................................................... 142 10.2 Effective dates ................................................................................................ 147 10.3 Other ............................................................................................................... 153 November 2010 4 Section 1 - Definition of Source Category Section 1.1 - F GHG Production Processes Commenter Name: Rob Rouse Commenter Affiliation: The Dow Chemical Company Comment Number: EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0927-0119.1 Comment Excerpt Number: 8 Comment: Subpart L – Fluorinated Gas Production. EPA should clarify the definition of this source category. The definition of this source category is highly dependent on two definitions contained in existing §98.6 and proposed §98.128 respectively: Fluorinated greenhouse gas means sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and any fluorocarbon except for controlled substances as defined at 40 CFR Part 82 Subpart A and substances with vapor pressures of less than 1 MM of Hg absolute at 25 degrees C. With these exceptions, ‘‘fluorinated GHG’’ includes but is not limited to any hydrofluorocarbon, any perfluorocarbon, any fully fluorinated linear, branched or cyclic alkane, ether, tertiary amine or aminoether, any perfluoropolyether, and any hydrofluoropolyether. Fluorinated gas means any fluorinated GHG, CFC, or HCFC. There is potential confusion or uncertainty in the definition of Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas, and by extension the definition of fluorinated gas. Although Dow agrees with the listing of compounds and families of compounds specified within the definition of Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas, Dow disagrees with the inclusion of the unnecessary, ambiguous phrase “…includes but is not limited to.” The addition of this phrase reduces the clarity and specificity of the definition while introducing ambiguity for parties obligated to report. To correct this shortcoming, Dow suggests that EPA define “fluorinated GHG” as any fluorinated GHG that is listed in Table A-1 of the proposed rule. The suggested change would make the rules very clear and unambiguous. Response: Under this rulemaking, EPA did not open the definition of fluorinated GHG for comment. We have determined that this definition provides sufficient clarity regarding the scope of the rule.1