Good Combustion Practice and Emission Regulations for Municipal Waste Incineration

On July 7, 1987, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its intention of developing new air pollution control guidelines and regulations for municipal waste combustion (MWC). The guidelines will pertain to regulation of existing sources by state air pollution control authorities. The regulations will pertain to revised Federal New Source PerfQrmance Standards (NSPS) for new MWC sources. This decision was based, in part, on a comprehensive study of municipal waste combustion. This study involved the evaluation of health and environmental risks associated with municipal waste combustion and an assessment of technology for limiting emission of criteria and hazardous air pollutants either by control of the combustion process or by the use of flue gas cleaning technology. Simultaneously with this announcement of plans to regulate, the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) issued guidance to EPAls regional offices concerning approval of applications for permits to construct new incinerators in the interim period prior to promulgation of the revised New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). These guidelines specified that all new incinerators use good combustion practice and the appropriate flue gas cleaning technology to ensure adequate control of air pollution emissions. Appropriate flue gas cleaning technology was defined as the use of a dry scrubber (wet-dry scrubber or dry sorbent injection) in combination with a fabric filter or high performance electrostatic precipitator. Although the criteria for achieving good combustion were not defined by OAQPS, the regional offices were referred to recommendations for good combustion provided in the report entitled Municipal Waste Combustion Study: Combustion Control of Organics, EPA-530/SW-87-021d, June 1987. This presentation provides a summary of EPAls recommendations for achieving good combustion in municipal waste incinerators. It also discusses the approach and time schedule to be followed in developing revised regulations for municipal waste incinerators