If you're replacing or upgrading your industrial boiler, keep in mind that stricter emission standards are being introduced this year. Upgrading before the major overhaul of limits on close to 100 different emissions could be costly. Your new boiler and emissions control equipment could be outdated before you even fire it up. 

Any new boilers, combustion systems, or controls integration should reflect the new standards soon to be announced. 

Achieving the Maximum Emissions Reductions 

The government is following through on commitments to reduce industrial boiler emissions. Industrial and commercial boilers are regulated by the 2013 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). As emission control technologies improve, regulators are also moving standards forward on the technology curve.

The emissions standards were developed to evolve with technology improvements. They are based on the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule, established under Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments. As emissions control technology improves, more can be done, and logically emissions standards are evolving, too. 

What to Expect From the New HAP Emission Standards

Certain categories of industrial boilers are required to further reduce hazardous air pollutants (HAP). They include carbon monoxide, mercury, particulate matter, hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, and benzene. Substantial changes in the emissions control technology of boilers will be required. Of 90 HAP emissions industrial boilers must control for, the limits on 34 of them will change under the new rules. Most will become stricter while a handful will become less stringent. The incoming emission rules do not apply to power plant boilers. 

In addition to changes in emissions control technology, combustion control systems and control integration affect emission levels. Excess air, burner modulation, and other parameters need to be more precisely controlled. 

Controls Integration for the New Emission Standards

As important as the emission control gear is the controls integration. To comply with the incoming standards, controls integration needs to respond to new catalytic converters and filter technology, as well as the fine-tuning of combustion systems. 

The industry will have three years to comply. Given the extent of the changes that will be required in emissions control technology, however, any changes made to your boilers today could increase your costs of compliance once the details of the new emissions standards are announced. 

Industrial plants can lower their cost of compliance in the future by staying ahead of the technology curve on industrial boiler emission control technology and controls integration.