The Ontario Ministry of Environment has finalized the technology-based air pollution standard for pulp and paper mills (the Standard) and a proposed guideline for large wood-fired combustors (the Guideline). The new Standard and Guideline aim to control air emissions of key contaminants including total reduced sulphur, chlorine, PAHs, particulate and carbon monoxide.
- Pulp and Paper Industry Standard under O Reg 419/05 (Air Pollution – Local Air Quality) – covers the performance, operational practices, operational optimization assessments, monitoring, and records and reporting requirements for pulp, paper and paperboard mills (but not facilities using an acid-sulphite process)
- Guideline for Control of Air Emissions from Large Wood-fired Combustors – sets out updated technical requirements for the design and operation of existing, modified and new wood-fired combustors (with a heat input capacity of 3 megawatts or greater). Both the Standard and the Guideline were posted to the Environmental Registry on March 6, 2014. The deadline for comments on the Guideline is May 5, 2014.
Pulp and Paper Industry Standard
The new Standard is a technical standard for facilities in the pulp and paper sector that might not meet one or more of the generic air standards due to unique technical or economic limitations. Instead of making the air standard less stringent, O Reg 419/05 allows facilities to exceed the air standard as long as they work to reduce their air emissions with technology-based solutions and best practices.
The new Standard
- contains detailed requirements relating to the operation of 23 sources of contaminants (including digester and evaporator systems, tank vents, combustors, wastewater treatment, air pollution control equipment, lime kilns and thermal oxidizers)
- provides for performance limits, assessment reports, optimization updates, and testing and monitoring requirements.
The key contaminants for the pulp and paper sector include total reduced sulphur compounds, chlorine dioxide, chlorine, chloroform, benzo-a-pyrene (PAHs) and acrolein. The Standard also includes an additional 52 contaminants for which representative facilities of the sector were below the air standards or guidelines.
Any facility in the Pulp and Paper sector (that may or may not meet the air standards) may apply to be registered under this technology-based compliance approach. Some facilities may also register under the technical standard for contaminants where they meet the air standards. This allows them to be excluded from the modelling requirements of O Reg 419/05 and reduce their regulatory burden.
Proposed Guideline for Control of Air Emissions from Large Wood-fired Combustors (A-13)
The proposed Guideline covers:
- design criteria for residence time and temperature (for new units)
- fuel management (for existing and new units)
- combustion air requirements (for existing and new units)
- air pollution control devices (for existing and new units) and
- tune-up of wood-fired combustors every two years.
The Guideline includes limits on carbon monoxide in flue gas and in-stack limits on suspended particulate, nitrogen oxides, and total dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs.
These technical requirements represent the "minimum expected requirements". The requirements will be considered as conditions during the preparation of an Environmental Compliance Approval (issued under s. 20.3 of the Environmental Protection Act) or as part of an abatement or enforcement order.
The requirements will apply to applications for new combustors received after July 1, 2014, and would be phased-in for existing and significantly modified combustors over time (as set out in Appendix A of the Guideline). Also, proponents of ECA applications can request that the phasedin requirements become applicable at an earlier date.
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