Document 2jVjxwvby9oeKb15KbXYQbjnb
MEMO Rae Cronmiller June 16, 2023 Pate 2
(taking into account developments in practices, processes, and control technologies), emission standards promulgated under this section no less often than every 8 years." Taken together, these two provisions of the CAA constitute what is termed EPA's Risk and Technology Reviews (RTR). Clearly, Section 112(t) is concerned with health risks and has nothing to do with compliance methods or procedures. Section 1 12(d)(6) concerns itself with revising numerical standards based on "developments in practices, processes, and control technologies." Thus, there appears to be no legal basis for EPA's proposed elimination of the quarterly stack testing option for demonstrating compliance with the fPM emission standard.
TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS
The fundamental problem with PM CEMS is, and always has been, an issue of technology. That is, commercially available PM CEMS do not provide a direct measure of PM emissions. By direct measure, we mean that the instrument measures the mass of PM and the volume of flue gas from which that mass of PM was sampled. Rather, commercially available PM CEMS measure some property (i.e., light scatter or beta attenuation') that must be correlated to actual stack PM measurements.
Correlation Testing and Data Range
The procedure and requirements for correlation testing are specified in EPA Performance Specification 11 (PS-1 1).4 PS-11 requires a minimum of 15 test runs using the appropriate EPA reference method (e.g., MATS Method 5) spaced over three distinct PM concentrations (i.e., low, mid and high).' For the resulting correlation to be useful, these three distinct PM concentrations should span the range of expected concentrations with a target level (i.e., 50 percent of the limit) in the middle of the range.
A PM CEMS correlation curve plots the PM CEMS output on the x-axis and the reference method PM concentration on the y-axis. Reference method PM concentrations (y-axis) are typically expressed in the units of milligrams per actual cubic meter (mg/acm), and "actual" refers to the condition at which the PM CEMS detector operates. EPA is proposing to lower the filterable PM emission limit from 0.030 to 0.010 lb/106 Btu.' Conversion of 0.010 lb/10' Btu to mg/acm requires knowledge of the detector temperature and stack diluent (e.g., CO,) concentration. If we use a typical CO, concentration of 12.5 percent (wet) and a detector temperature of 320 O F, then 0.010 lb/106 Btu converts to 7.5 mg/acm. Following EPA's assumption that the unit will
'1 he LPA statement at 88 Fed. Rea. at 24,872, that a beta gauge "detector measures the amount of
radiation emitted by the sample" is categorically incorrect and illustrative of several uninformed statements
cost estimates) about PM (1I:MS in the preamble to the proposed rule
40
60, Appendix
' PS-11 defines "low" to be icro to 50 percent of the maximum PM concentration; "mid" to be 25 to 75
percent of the maximum PM concentration: and "high" to be 50 to 100 percent of the maximum PM
concentration. RI.R's many ,,,ears of experience with PM (1LMS correlation testing is to equate "maximum PM concentration" with the PM emission limit.
88 Fed. Reg,. at 24,857.
Sierra Club FOIA 2025-EPA-04883
ED_018388_00000057-00023
SC_EVERSPLIT0005623