Hazardous waste combustion

U.S. EPA may require owners and operators of hazardous waste combustion units to comply with additional performance standards by virtue of the omnibus authority. This authority allows U.S. EPA to incorporate additional terms and conditions into a facility s permit as necessary to protect human health and the environment. 

The goal of setting operating requirements for hazardous waste combustion units is to ensure that the unit will operate in a way that meets the performance standards for organics, chlorine, particulate matter, and metal pollutants. The unit s permit will specify the operating conditions that have been shown to meet the performance standards for organics, chlorine gas, particulate matter, and metals. 

An RCRA permit for a hazardous waste combustion unit sets operating requirements that specify allowable ranges for, and requires continuous monitoring of, certain critical parameters that will ensure compliance with the performance standards. Operation within these parameters ensures that combustion is performed in the most protective manner and the performance standards are achieved. These parameters, or operating requirements, may include... 

To control the emission of organics, these units must comply with similar DRE requirements to the other hazardous waste combustion units. Owners or operators of MACT combustion units must select POHCs and demonstrate a DRE of 99.99% for each POHC in the hazardous wastestream. Sources that bum hazardous waste have a required DRE of 99.9999% for each POHC designated. Additionally, for dioxins and furans, U.S. EPA promulgated more stringent standards under MACT. For example, MACT incinerators and cement kilns that bum waste with dioxins and furans must not exceed an emission limitation of either 0.2 ng of toxicity equivalence per dry standard cubic meter (TEQ/m3) or 0.4 ng TEQ/m3 at the inlet to the dry particulate matter control device. This unit of measure is based on a method for assessing risks associated with exposures to dioxins and furans. 

Because hazardous waste combustion units are a type of TSDF, they are subject to the general TSDF standards in addition to combustion unit performance standards and operating requirements. Combustion units are also subject to specific waste analysis, inspection and monitoring, and residue management requirements. 

In addition, these units are also subject to the general TSDF facility standards under RCRA. Flazardous waste incinerators and hazardous waste burning cement kilns and LWAKs are also subject to the CAA MACT emission standards. A complete overview of the MACT standards and additional information about hazardous waste combustion can be found in Ref. 13. 

CAA RCRA hazardous waste combustion facilities are subject to CAA permit requirements... 

Figure 23.1 provides a compilation of information on reported emergency incidents at hazardous waste combustion facilities and other TSDFs regulated under the RCRA. It covers emergency incidents such as fires, explosions, hazardous waste spills, or unauthorized releases of hazardous waste. The reported incidents at 24 hazardous waste combustion units and 26 other TSDFs... 

FIGURE 23.1 Number of incidents at combustion facilities and TSDFs. (Adapted from U.S. EPA, Report on Emergency Incidents at Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities and Other Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs), EPA530-R-99-014, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, June 1999.)... 

U.S. EPA s recommendations regarding stack emission tests, which may be performed at hazardous waste combustion facilities for the purpose of supporting MACT standards and multipathway, site-specific risk assessments, where such a risk assessment has been determined to be necessary by the permit authority, can be found in the U.S. EPA document on Risk Burn Guidance for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities.32 The applicability of the new standards has been demonstrated in the management of hazardous waste incinerators, whose performance was shown to clearly surpass the regulatory requirements in all tested areas.33... 

Readers interested in reviewing information on the implementation of legislation on hazardous waste combustion in the European Union member states are referred to the Europa website.34... 

U.S. EPA, Risk Burn Guidance for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities, EPA530-R-01-001, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, July 2001. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (2005) Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol (HHRAP) for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities (Final) EPA530-R-05-006 Office of Solid Waste. Washington, DC... 

Levels of NOx emissions in relation to Clean Air Act ambient standards and the risk-based alternative acute emissions guidance levels from Volume I of the Hazardous Waste Combustion Risk Analysis Guidance Document (EPA, 1998). This will address NOx as potentially convertible to nitric acid. 

Metals emissions, e.g., mercury emissions, in relation to EPA s hazardous waste combustion maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards and a site-specific, risk-based analysis that is particularly focused on silver and other metals impacted by the formation of chlorinated and nitrated volatile metals. 

Particulate matter emissions in relation to hazardous waste combustion standards. 

Except for the GB and HD test campaigns, for which the data were incomplete, the stack offgas did meet hazardous waste combustion and thermal treatment regulations and requirements criteria for waste streams. 

UACADS requirements were set prior to issuance of the EPA s 1993 Hazardous Waste Combustion Strategy. 

The Hazardous Waste Combustion MACT rule states that a site-specific risk assessment is recommended for a specific site if the MACT controls do not sufficiently protect human health. If the MACT standards are sufficiently protective of health and the emissions are below the MACT standards, a new HRA is not typically required. 

EPA. 2006. Hazardous Waste Combustion NESHAP Toolkit. Available online at http //www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/combust/toolkit/permit. htm. Last accessed March 6, 2007. 

Automobile exhaust is another source of 2,4- and 2,6-DNPs in air (Nojima et al. 1983). 2,4-DNP is also used as an insecticide, acaricide, and fungicide (HSDB 1994). Therefore, application of this type of pesticide could be a source of 2,4-DNP in air. Photochemical reactions of benzene with nitrogen oxides in air also produce dinitrophenols in the atmosphere (Nojima et al. 1983). Dinitrophenols have been detected in emissions from hazardous waste combustion (James et al. 1984). Dinitrophenols may be present in the aerosol or vapor phase near hazardous waste disposal sites. It has been suggested that the most important origin of dinitrophenols is their formation by photochemical reactions in the atmosphere (Nojima et al. 1983). 

EPA. 1999b. Hazardous Waste Combusters, Prequently Asked Questions. Available at . 

EPA. 2000. Prequently Asked Questions on Pinal Rule on Hazardous Waste Combustion Emission Standards. Available at (last modified on 7/19/2000). 

EPA. 2001b. Risk Bum Guidance for Hazardous Waste Combustion Pacili-ties. EPA 530-R-01-001, July. Washington, D.C. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Recommendation (Demo I) GA-6. The air emissions data from the demonstration tests should be used in a screening risk assessment. The results of the air effluent samples should be subject to (1) a human health risk assessment following the Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol (HHRAP) for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [EPA530-D-98-001(A,B>C)] and (2) an ecological risk assessment following a protocol that wiU be released by EPA in the very near future. 

This section discusses the various pieces of equipment that constitute a hazardous waste combustion facility. Sections II.A (liquids) and II.B (solids) discuss the major types of incinerators and waste combustors in use today and point out the types of wastes that each one is best suited to handle. 

Emissions from waste combustion of various types will likely decline as well, given the mix of new rales on municipal solid waste (MSW) and hazardous waste combustion. Walsh et al. (2001) reported that in past decades, the late 1960s, MSW burning in the New York City area emitted up to ca. 800 MT Pb/year. 

Sun, B., A.F. Sarofim, E.G. Eddings, and DJ. Paustenbach. 2001. Reducing PCDD/PCDF Formation and Emission fiom a Hazardous Waste Combustion Facility-Technological Identification, Implementation, and Achievement, 21 Int. Symp. On Halogenated Environmental Organic Pollutants and POPS, Kyongju, Korea. 

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