EPA RCRA Hazardous Waste Management 264-SubpartO: Part 264 Subpart O: Incinerators

Applies to hazardous waste incinerators; once an incinerator demonstrates compliance with the Clean Air Act MACT standards of 40 CFR part 63 subpart EEE, the Part 264 standards no longer apply except those the permit keeps (such as waste analysis, closure and permitted operating requirements), and wastes that are hazardous only for ignitability, corrosivity or reactivity with insignificant Appendix VIII constituents may be exempted (264.340). A waste feed analysis sufficient to set permit conditions must accompany the trial burn plan or Part B, with enough ongoing analysis to verify the feed stays within permit limits (264.341); principal organic hazardous constituents (POHCs) are designated in the permit (264.342). Performance standards: a destruction and removal efficiency of 99.99 percent for each POHC (99.9999 percent for F020 to F023, F026 and F027 dioxin wastes); hydrogen chloride emissions of more than 1.8 kg per hour controlled to no more than the larger of 1.8 kg per hour or one percent of the HCl in the stack gas before control; and particulate matter no more than 180 milligrams per dry standard cubic metre corrected for stack oxygen (264.343). Only permitted wastes may be burned under the operating conditions specified for them, with new wastes only after a permit or modification based on trial burns or alternative data (264.344). The incinerator must operate within permit operating requirements (waste feed composition and rate, carbon monoxide level, combustion temperature, gas velocity, allowable variations), not feed waste during start-up or shut-down unless within those conditions, control fugitive combustion-zone emissions, have a functioning automatic waste feed cut-off when conditions deviate, and cease operation when feed, design or conditions exceed permit limits (264.345). While burning it must continuously monitor combustion temperature, waste feed rate, the permit's gas velocity indicator and stack carbon monoxide, sample and analyse the waste and exhaust emissions when the Regional Administrator requests, inspect the incinerator and associated equipment visually at least daily for leaks, spills, fugitive emissions and tampering, and test the emergency waste feed cut-off and alarms at least weekly (at least monthly where less frequent testing is shown adequate), with records kept in the operating record for five years (264.347). At closure all hazardous waste and residues, including ash, scrubber waters and sludges, must be removed (264.351).