EPA Proposes Emissions Standards for Refineries

05/04/2007

On April 30, 2007, the US EPA issued proposed amendments to the new source performance standards (NSPS) for petroleum refineries to reduce emissions of criteria pollutants from new, modified, or reconstructed process units. The proposed standards require improved emission control technologies for these units and better work practices geared toward minimizing emissions. Standards include emissions limits for fluid catalytic cracking and coking units, fuel gas combustion devices, and sulfur recovery plants. Plants would be required to monitor control device operating parameters, operate bag leak detection systems, or conduct continuous emissions monitoring. Refineries also must conduct a root-cause analysis of any release of sulfur dioxide greater than 500 pounds per day.

These proposed standards are projected to reduce the combined emissions of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide by nearly 56,000 tons per year over the next five years. Benefits of the proposed rules are estimated at more than $950 million, about 17 times the expected costs.

For more information, please visit www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/petrefnspsprop_fs.html.