40 CFR 63.1503 – Definitions
Terms used in this subpart are defined in the Clean Air Act as amended (CAA), in § 63.2, or in this section as follows:
ACGIH Guidelines means chapters 3 and 5 of Industrial Ventilation: A Manual of Recommended Practice 23rd edition or appropriate chapters of Industrial Ventilation: A Manual of Recommended Practice for Design 27th edition (incorporated by reference, see § 63.14).
Add-on air pollution control device means equipment installed on a process vent that reduces the quantity of a pollutant that is emitted to the air.
Afterburner means an air pollution control device that uses controlled flame combustion to convert combustible materials to noncombustible gases; also known as an incinerator or a thermal oxidizer.
Aluminum scrap means fragments of aluminum stock removed during manufacturing (i.e., machining), manufactured aluminum articles or parts rejected or discarded and useful only as material for reprocessing, and waste and discarded material made of aluminum.
Aluminum scrap shredder means a high speed or low speed unit that crushes, grinds, granulates, shears or breaks aluminum scrap into a more uniform size prior to processing or charging to a scrap dryer/delacquering kiln/decoating kiln, or furnace. A bale breaker is not an aluminum scrap shredder. Shearing and cutting operations performed at rolling mills and aluminum finishing operations (such as slitters) are not aluminum scrap shredders.
Bag leak detection system means an instrument that is capable of monitoring particulate matter loadings in the exhaust of a fabric filter (i.e., baghouse) in order to detect bag failures. A bag leak detection system includes, but is not limited to, an instrument that operates on triboelectric, light scattering, light transmittance, or other effect to monitor relative particulate matter loadings.
Bale breaker means a device used to break apart a bale of aluminum scrap for further processing. Bale breakers are not used to crush, grind, granulate, shear or break aluminum scrap into more uniform size pieces.
Capture and collection system means the system, including duct systems and fans, and, in some cases, hoods, used to collect a contaminant at or near its source, and for affected sources equipped with an air pollution control device, transport the contaminated air to the air cleaning device.
Chips means small, uniformly-sized, unpainted pieces of aluminum scrap, typically below 1
Clean charge means furnace charge materials, including molten aluminum; T-bar; sow; ingot; billet; pig; alloying elements; aluminum scrap known by the owner or operator to be entirely free of paints, coatings, and lubricants; uncoated/unpainted aluminum chips that have been thermally dried or treated by a centrifugal cleaner; aluminum scrap dried at 343 °C (650 °F) or higher; aluminum scrap delacquered/decoated at 482 °C (900 °F) or higher; and runaround scrap. Anodized aluminum that contains dyes or sealants containing organic compounds is not clean charge.
Cover flux means salt added to the surface of molten aluminum in a group 1 or group 2 furnace, without surface agitation of the molten aluminum, for the purpose of preventing oxidation. Any flux added to a rotary furnace is not a cover flux.
Customer returns means any aluminum product which is returned by a customer to the aluminum company that originally manufactured the product prior to resale of the product or further distribution in commerce, and which contains no paint or other solid coatings (i.e., lacquers).
D/F means dioxins and furans.
Dioxins and furans means tetra-, penta-, hexa-, and octachlorinated dibenzo dioxins and furans.
Dross means the slags and skimmings from aluminum melting and refining operations consisting of fluxing agent(s), impurities, and/or oxidized and non-oxidized aluminum, from scrap aluminum charged into the furnace.
Dross-only furnace means a furnace, typically of rotary barrel design, dedicated to the reclamation of aluminum from dross formed during melting, holding, fluxing, or alloying operations carried out in other process units. Dross and salt flux are the sole feedstocks to this type of furnace.
Emission unit means a group 1 furnace or in-line fluxer at a secondary aluminum production facility.
Fabric filter means an add-on air pollution control device used to capture particulate matter by filtering gas streams through filter media; also known as a baghouse.
Feed/charge means, for a furnace or other process unit that operates in batch mode, the total weight of material (including molten aluminum, T-bar, sow, ingot, etc.) and alloying agents that enter the furnace during an operating cycle. For a furnace or other process unit that operates continuously, feed/charge means the weight of material (including molten aluminum, T-bar, sow, ingot, etc.) and alloying agents that enter the process unit within a specified time period (e.g., a time period equal to the performance test period). The feed/charge for a dross only furnace includes the total weight of dross and solid flux.
Fluxing means refining of molten aluminum to improve product quality, achieve product specifications, or reduce material loss, including the addition of solvents to remove impurities (solvent flux); and the injection of gases such as chlorine, or chlorine mixtures, to remove magnesium (demagging) or hydrogen bubbles (degassing). Fluxing may be performed in the furnace or outside the furnace by an in-line fluxer.
Furnace hearth means the combustion zone of a furnace in which the molten metal is contained.
Group 1 furnace means a furnace of any design that melts, holds, or processes aluminum that contains paint, lubricants, coatings, or other foreign materials with or without reactive fluxing, or processes clean charge with reactive fluxing.
Group 2 furnace means a furnace of any design that melts, holds, or processes only clean charge and that performs no fluxing or performs fluxing using only nonreactive, non-HAP-containing/non-HAP-generating gases or agents. Unheated pots, to which no flux is added and that are used to transport metal, are not furnaces.
HCl means hydrogen chloride.
HF means hydrogen fluoride.
In-line fluxer means a device exterior to a furnace, located in a transfer line from a furnace, used to refine (flux) molten aluminum; also known as a flux box, degassing box, or demagging box.
Internal scrap means all aluminum scrap regardless of the level of contamination which originates from castings or extrusions produced by an aluminum die casting facility, aluminum foundry, or aluminum extrusion facility, and which remains at all times within the control of the company that produced the castings or extrusions.
Lime means calcium oxide or other alkaline reagent.
Lime-injection means the continuous addition of lime upstream of a fabric filter.
Melting/holding furnace means a group 1 furnace that processes only clean charge, performs melting, holding, and fluxing functions, and does not transfer molten aluminum to or from another furnace except for purposes of alloy changes, off-specification product drains, or maintenance activities.
Operating cycle means for a batch process, the period beginning when the feed material is first charged to the operation and ending when all feed material charged to the operation has been processed. For a batch melting or holding furnace process, operating cycle means the period including the charging and melting of scrap aluminum and the fluxing, refining, alloying, and tapping of molten aluminum (the period from tap-to-tap).
PM means, for the purposes of this subpart, emissions of particulate matter that serve as a measure of total particulate emissions and as a surrogate for metal HAPs contained in the particulates, including but not limited to, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, and selenium.
Pollution prevention means source reduction as defined under the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (e.g., equipment or technology modifications, process or procedure modifications, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, or inventory control), and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water, or other resources, or protection of natural resources by conservation.
Reactive fluxing means the use of any gas, liquid, or solid flux (other than cover flux) that results in a HAP emission. Argon and nitrogen are not reactive and do not produce HAP.
Reconstruction means the replacement of components of an affected source or emission unit such that the fixed capital cost of the new components exceeds 50 percent of the fixed capital cost that would be required to construct a comparable new affected source, and it is technologically and economically feasible for the reconstructed source to meet relevant standard(s) established in this subpart. Replacement of the refractory in a furnace is routine maintenance and is not a reconstruction. The repair and replacement of in-line fluxer components (e.g., rotors/shafts, burner tubes, refractory, warped steel) is considered to be routine maintenance and is not considered a reconstruction. In-line fluxers are typically removed to a maintenance/repair area and are replaced with repaired units. The replacement of an existing in-line fluxer with a repaired unit is not considered a reconstruction.
Residence time means, for an afterburner, the duration of time required for gases to pass through the afterburner combustion zone. Residence time is calculated by dividing the afterburner combustion zone volume in cubic feet by the volumetric flow rate of the gas stream in actual cubic feet per second. The combustion zone volume includes the reaction chamber of the afterburner in which the waste gas stream is exposed to the direct combustion flame and the complete refractory lined portion of the furnace stack up to the measurement thermocouple.
Rotary dross cooler means a water-cooled rotary barrel device that accelerates cooling of dross.
Round top furnace means a cylindrically-shaped reverberatory furnace that has a top that is removed for charging and other furnace operations.
Runaround scrap means scrap materials generated on-site by aluminum casting, extruding, rolling, scalping, forging, forming/stamping, cutting, and trimming operations and that do not contain paint or solid coatings. Uncoated/unpainted aluminum chips generated by turning, boring, milling, and similar machining operations may be clean charge if they have been thermally dried or treated by a centrifugal cleaner, but are not considered to be runaround scrap.
Scrap dryer/delacquering kiln/decoating kiln means a unit used primarily to remove various organic contaminants such as oil, paint, lacquer, ink, plastic, and/or rubber from aluminum scrap (including used beverage containers) prior to melting, or that separates aluminum foil from paper and plastic in scrap.
Secondary aluminum processing unit (SAPU). An existing SAPU means all existing group 1 furnaces and all existing in-line fluxers within a secondary aluminum production facility. Each existing group 1 furnace or existing in-line fluxer is considered an emission unit within a secondary aluminum processing unit. A new SAPU means any combination of individual group 1 furnaces and in-line fluxers within a secondary aluminum processing facility which either were constructed or reconstructed after February 11, 1999, or have been permanently redesignated as new emission units pursuant to § 63.1505(k)(6). Each of the group 1 furnaces or in-line fluxers within a new SAPU is considered an emission unit within that secondary aluminum processing unit. A secondary aluminum production facility may have more than one new SAPU.
Secondary aluminum production facility means any establishment using clean charge, aluminum scrap, or dross from aluminum production, as the raw material and performing one or more of the following processes: scrap shredding, scrap drying/delacquering/decoating, thermal chip drying, furnace operations (i.e., melting, holding, sweating, refining, fluxing, or alloying), recovery of aluminum from dross, in-line fluxing, or dross cooling. A secondary aluminum production facility may be independent or part of a primary aluminum production facility. For purposes of this subpart, aluminum die casting facilities, aluminum foundries, and aluminum extrusion facilities are not considered to be secondary aluminum production facilities if the only materials they melt are clean charge, customer returns, or internal scrap, and if they do not operate sweat furnaces, thermal chip dryers, or scrap dryers/delacquering kilns/decoating kilns. The determination of whether a facility is a secondary aluminum production facility is only for purposes of this subpart and any regulatory requirements which are derived from the applicability of this subpart, and is separate from any determination which may be made under other environmental laws and regulations, including whether the same facility is a “secondary metal production facility” as that term is used in 42 U.S.C. § 7479(1) and 40 CFR 52.21(b)(1)(i)(A) (“prevention of significant deterioration of air quality”).
Shutdown means the period of operation for thermal chip dryers, scrap dryers/delacquering kilns, decoating kilns, dross-only furnaces, group 1 furnaces, in-line fluxers, sweat furnaces and group 2 furnaces that begins when the introduction of feed/charge is intentionally halted, the source of heat to the emissions unit is turned off, and product has been removed from the emission unit to the greatest extent practicable (e.g., by tapping a furnace). Shutdown ends when the emission unit is near ambient temperature.
Sidewell means an open well adjacent to the hearth of a furnace with connecting arches between the hearth and the open well through which molten aluminum is circulated between the hearth, where heat is applied by burners, and the open well, which is used for charging scrap and solid flux or salt to the furnace, injecting fluxing agents, and skimming dross.
Startup means the period of operation for thermal chip dryers, scrap dryers/delacquering kilns, decoating kilns, dross-only furnaces, group 1 furnaces, in-line fluxers, sweat furnaces and group 2 furnaces that begins with equipment warming from a shutdown, that is, the equipment is at or near ambient temperature. Startup ends at the point that flux or feed/charge is introduced.
Sweat furnace means a furnace used exclusively to reclaim aluminum from scrap that contains substantial quantities of iron by using heat to separate the low-melting point aluminum from the scrap while the higher melting-point iron remains in solid form.
Tap means the end of an operating cycle of any individual furnace when processed molten aluminum is poured from that furnace.
TEQ means the international method of expressing toxicity equivalents for dioxins and furans as defined in “Interim Procedures for Estimating Risks Associated with Exposures to Mixtures of Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and -Dibenzofurans (CDDs and CDFs) and 1989 Update” (EPA-625/3-89-016), available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161, NTIS no. PB 90-145756.
THC means, for the purposes of this subpart, total hydrocarbon emissions that also serve as a surrogate for the emissions of organic HAP compounds.
Thermal chip dryer means a device that uses heat to evaporate oil or oil/water mixtures from unpainted/uncoated aluminum chips. Pre-heating boxes or other dryers which are used solely to remove water from aluminum scrap are not considered to be thermal chip dryers for purposes of this subpart.
Three-day, 24-hour rolling average means daily calculations of the average 24-hour emission rate (lbs/ton of feed/charge), over the 3 most recent consecutive 24-hour periods, for a secondary aluminum processing unit.
Total reactive chlorine flux injection rate means the sum of the total weight of chlorine in the gaseous or liquid reactive flux and the total weight of chlorine in the solid reactive chloride flux, divided by the total weight of feed/charge, as determined by the procedure in § 63.1512(o).
Total reactive fluorine flux injection rate means the sum of the total weight of fluorine in the gaseous or liquid reactive flux added to an uncontrolled group 1 furnace, and the total weight of fluorine in the solid reactive flux added to an uncontrolled group 1 furnace, divided by the total weight of feed/charge, as determined by the procedure in § 63.1512(o).