NORTHERN SONOMA COUNTY AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT
RULE 4-100 - TITLE:
Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Emissions of Dioxins from
Medical Waste Incinerators
RULE 4-110 - PURPOSE:
This regulation is adopted in accordance with the requirements of Health and Safety Code Section 39666(d) and of
California Code of Regulations Section 93104.
In July, 1986, pursuant to Section 39662 of the Health and Safety Code, the Air Resources Board (ARB) identified
dioxins as a toxic air contaminant. In so identifying dioxins, the Air Resources Board found that there is not
sufficient available scientific evidence to support identification of a threshold exposure level below which no
significant adverse health effects are anticipated (see Title 17, California Code of Regulations, Section 93000).
On June 13, 1991, the Office of Administrative law approved the Airborne Toxic Control measure for dioxins from
medical waste incinerators, which is embodied in this regulation. This airborne toxic control measure will reduce
emissions of dioxins from medical waste incinerators to the lowest level achievable through application of best
available control technology at operations subject to this measure.
RULE 4-120 - APPLICABILITY
- This regulation shall apply to any person who builds, owns, or operates a medical
- This regulation shall not apply to persons operating incinerators which are used
exclusively for the cremation of human or animal remains.
RULE 4-130 - DEFINITIONS
- "ARB" means the State of California Air Resources Board.
- "ARB Test Method 2" means the test method specified in Title 17 California
Code of Regulations, Section 94102.
- "ARB Test Method 428" means the test method specified in Title 17 California
Code of Regulations, Section 94139.
- "Category I medical waste incinerator" means any medical waste incinerator
which burns 10 tons or less of medical wastes per year.
- Category II medical waste incinerator" means any medical waste incinerator
which burns more than 10 tons of medical wastes per year, but less than 25 tons per year.
- "Category III medical waste incinerator" means any medical waste incinerator
which burns 25 tons or more of medical wastes per year.
- "Control equipment" means any device which reduces the emissions from
medical waste incinerators.
- "Dioxins" means dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans chlorinated in the
2,3,7 and 8 positions and containing 4,5,6 or 7 chlorine atoms. It is expressed as 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro- dibenzo-p-dioxin
equivalents using current California Department of Health Services toxic equivalency factors.
- "District" means the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District.
- "Facility" means every building, structure, appurtenance, installation
or improvement located on land which is under the same or common ownership or operation, and is on one or more
contiguous or adjacent properties.
- "May" means a provision is permissive.
- "Medical facilities" means medical, dental and veterinary offices, clinics
and hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, research facilities, research laboratories, clinical laboratories, all
licensed and unlicensed medical facilities, clinics and hospitals, surgery centers, diagnostic laboratories and
other providers of health care.
- "Medical waste incinerator" means any furnace or other closed fire chamber
located at a medical facility and used to dispose of waste generated at medical facilities by burning.
- "Must" means a provision is mandatory.
- "Shall" means a provision is binding upon anyone subject to this rule.
- "Uncontrolled emissions" means the emission rate of the incinerator
to the control equipment, measured from the flue at a location downstream of the last combustion chamber and before
the control equipment.
- "Waste" means all discarded putrescible and non-putrescible solid, semi-solid
and liquid materials, including garbage, trash, refuse, paper, rubbish, food, ashes, plastics, industrial wastes,
demolition and construction wastes, equipment, instruments, utensils, appliances, manure, human or animal tissues
or blood, and human or animal solid and semi-solid wastes.
RULE 4-200 - PERMITS
- The owner or operator of any new or existing medical waste incinerator shall file
an application for an Authority to Construct with the District, as provided in Regulation 1, Rule 200.
- The owner or operator of an existing medical waste incinerator shall file an application
for authority to construct not later than January 20, 1993.
RULE 4-300 - FEES
- Every applicant for an Authority to Construct or holder of a permit to operate
a medical waste incinerator shall pay an initial fee or permit renewal fee or other fees as provided in Regulation
1, Rule 300, including the annual CPI fee adjustment factor, using as a basis the schedule of fees in Regulation
3, Rule 4-310.
- The applicant for an Authority to Construct shall pay the initial fee at the time
of filing of the application.
- Permit renewal fees not payed in a timely fashion as provided in Regulation 1,
Rule 300 are subject to the penalty provisions in Regulation 1, Rule 300(i).
RULE 4-310 - FEE SCHEDULE -- MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATORS
The owner or operator of any medical waste incinerator, for which an Authority to Construct or Permit to Operate
is required, shall be assessed a permit fee in accordance with Regulation 1, Rule 300, based on the capacity of
the medical waste incinerator according to this schedule:
RULE 4-400 - CONTROL MEASURE FOR EMISSIONS OF DIOXINS FROM MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATORS
- No person shall dispose of medical wastes by burning except in a medical waste
incinerator which meets the requirements of this regulation, and which has been reviewed by the air pollution control
officer and received a written permit to operate in accordance with this and other regulations of the District.
- No person shall operate a category III medical waste incinerator unless either
condition (1) or (2) is met:.
- Emissions of dioxins have been reduced to less than 1 percent of the uncontrolled
- Emissions of dioxins are less than 10 nanograms per kilogram of waste burned.
- No person shall operate a category III medical waste incinerator unless control
equipment is installed and used in a manner which has been demonstrated to and approved by the Air Pollution Control
Officer to meet all of the following conditions, (1) through (4):
- The temperature of the flue gas at the outlet of the control equipment shall not
exceed 300 degrees Fahrenheit, unless it has been demonstrated to and approved in writing by the Air Pollution
Control Officer and the ARB that lower emission rates are achieved at a higher outlet temperature; and
- The operating temperature of any single-chamber incinerator shall be maintained
at not less than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The temperature of the primary combustion chamber of any multiple-chamber incinerator
shall be maintained at not less than 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature of the secondary combustion chamber
shall be maintained at not less than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The design of any incinerator shall provide that the residence time of the combustion
gases in the combustion chamber of a single-chamber incinerator or in the secondary combustion chamber of a multiple-chamber
incinerator shall be at least one second. Residence time shall be calculated using Equation 1.
is the volume, expressed in cubic feet, of that portion of the incinerator from the point where the maximum temperature
has been reached to the point where the temperature has dropped to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Qc means the combustion
gas flow through V expressed in actual cubic feet per second, which is measured according to ARB Method 2, after
adjusting the measured flow rate to the maximum combustion chamber temperature (Tc) by using Tc instead of Tstd
in the Method 2 calculation for Qc. The volumetric flow rate measured at the sampling points must be adjusted to
chamber pressures. Alternative methods may be used if conditions for determining the combustion gas flow rate by
Method 2 are unacceptable. The determination shall be within the quidelines of Method 2 and at the discretion of
the Air Pollution Control Officer. One alternative method for calculating Qc is the following:
EAwf = The excess air ratio (lbs.
excess air per lbs. theoretical air) for the waste feed expressed as a percentage.
||60 sec and where
EAaf = The excess air ratio (lbs. excess
air per lbs. theoretical air) for the auxiliary fuel expressed as a percentage. Tc is the maximum temperature,
in degrees Fahrenheit, reached in the incinerator
Qstoi is the amount of air theoretically
required for complete combustion, expressed in standard cubic feet per minute (SCF) and calculated as follows:
To estimate Qstoiwf and EAwf, a representative sample of the waste should be characterized by chemical analysis.
If a chemical analysis is not performed, an empirical method must be approved by the Air Pollution Control Officer.
RULE 4-410 - RECORD KEEPING EQUIPMENT AT MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATORS
- No person shall operate or cause to be operated a category I or II medical waste
incinerator, unless the incinerator is provided with equipment for determining and recording the weight of waste
charged to the incinerator.
- No person shall operate or cause to be operated a category III medical waste incinerator
which is not equipped with an automatic, continuous data recording system which provides and records, whenever
the incinerator is operating, continuous recording of the temperatures of the primary and secondary combustion
chambers and exhaust; carbon monoxide emissions; the key operating parameters of the air pollution control equipment,
as specified by the air pollution control officer; the hourly waste charging rate; and the opacity of stack emissions
or other indicator of emissions of particulate matter which is approved by the air pollution control officer.
- The equipment required by subsections (a) and (b) shall be operated whenever the
incinerator is operated or charged for operation.
RULE 4-450 - HANDLING OF ASH FROM MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATORS
No person shall operate or cause to be operated a medical waste incinerator unless bottom ash, fly ash and scrubber
residuals are handled and stored in a manner that prevents entrainment in to ambient air.
RULE 4-460 - OPERATOR TRAINING REQUIREMENTS:
No person shall operate or cause to be operated a medical waste incinerator unless each person who operates or
maintains the incinerator obtains either a certificate of training in medical waste incineration issued by the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers within nine months of the commencement of the training program, or equivalent
training as determined by the Air Pollution Control Officer. Copies of training certificates for the operators
and maintenance engineers shall be submitted to the District and the original certificates shall be available for
inspection at the facility with the permit to operate.
RULE 4-500 - DETERMINATION OF COMPLIANCE AND TEST METHOD
- For purposes of demonstrating compliance with Rule 4-400(b), the owner or operator
of a category III medical waste incinerator shall conduct not less than two source tests in each calendar year
for emissions of dioxins. After two consecutive source tests demonstrate compliance, the Air Pollution Control
Officer may reduce the frequency of source testing to once per calendar year, at his discretion.
- To demonstrate compliance with Rule 4-400(b)(1), emissions shall be sampled simultaneously
from the stack and from the flue at a location downstream of the last combustion chamber and before the control
- To demonstrate compliance with Rule 4-400(b)(2), source testing shall be conducted
at the stack.
- The owner or operator of a category II medical waste incinerator shall conduct
at least one source test to determine emissions of dioxins from the incinerator, and report the results to the
District not later than October 20, 1993.
- Emissions of dioxins shall be determined using ARB Test Method 428, with high
resolution mass spectrometry.
- In addition to emissions rates of dioxins and dibenzofurans, reports of source
test results shall include the following information: total waste charged (by weight); moisture content; paper
content; plastic content; total amounts of waste that are infectious, pathological, hazardous or radioactive; supplemental
fuel charged during the test; and such other information as the air pollution control officer may require.
- Source testing shall be conducted at a firing rate within five percent of the
maximum waste firing capacity allowed by the permit to operate.
- The owner or operator shall provide the District with at least two (2) copies
of each source test report, and shall provide proof of delivery of at least one copy of each source test report
to the Air Resources Board.
RULE 4-520 - MAINTENANCE OF AND ACCESS TO REQUIRED RECORDS
- Every person who operates or causes to be operated a medical waste incinerator
shall maintain the following records of operation:
- Complete operating records from the equipment required by Rule 4-410(a) or (b),
- Complete records of maintenance performed on the incinerator, air pollution control
equipment, and monitoring equipment.
- Complete records of calibration of the monitoring equipment.
- Training records of the personnel operating or maintaining the incinerator or
- On request from the Air Pollution Control Officer or his representative, the owner
or operator of a medical waste incinerator shall make required records available for inspection.
RULE 4-540 - BREAKDOWN AND VIOLATION REPORTING
In accordance with the requirements of Regulation 1, Rule 540, the owner or operator of any medical waste incinerator
shall report to the District within one hour of occurrence any violation of this rule or of any other applicable
rule of the District, malfunction, or upset condition in the incinerator, the air pollution control equipment,
or the continuous data recording system, or no later than 9:00 am on the next business day, if the incident occurs
outside the normal hours. A message left on the District's answering machine will not suffice to satisfy this requirement.
Any such incident reported to the District must be followed by a written report within 10 days, as required by
Regulation 1, Rule 540.
RULE 4-600 - COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE
- Not later than January 18, 1993, the owner or operator of any category II or III
medical waste incinerator shall apply to the District for an authority to construct the equipment necessary to
meet the requirements of Rule 4-400, 4-410 and 4- 450, or shall notify the Air Pollution Control Officer and the
Executive Officer of the Air Resources Board in writing of the date by which he intends to cease operation of the
medical waste incinerator.
- No later than October 20, 1993, the owner or operator of any class II or III medical
waste incinerator shall demonstrate compliance with the provisions of this rule as specified in Rule 4-500.
- Not later than April 20, 1993, anyone subject to the provisions of this rule who
chooses not to continue operation of the incinerator shall cease operation, return to the District any existing
permit to operate, and remove, dismantle or otherwise disable the medical waste incinerator.