Review of National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Polyether Polyols Production Industry

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) under the Clean Air Act (CAA) that apply to the Polyether Polyols (PEPO) Production industry (referred to as the PEPO NESHAP in this document). The EPA is proposing decisions resulting from the Agency's technology review of the PEPO NESHAP and decisions based on its reconsideration of certain issues raised in an administrative petition for reconsideration. Furthermore, the EPA is proposing to strengthen the emission standards for ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions after considering the results of a risk assessment for the PEPO NESHAP. The EPA is also proposing to require performance testing once every 5 years, to add work practice standards for certain activities where alternatives are appropriate, and to add provisions for electronic reporting. We estimate that the proposed amendments to the PEPO NESHAP, excluding the EtO emission standards, would reduce hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from PEPO sources by approximately 157 tons per year (tpy). Additionally, the proposed EtO emission standards are expected to reduce EtO emissions by approximately 14 tpy. We also estimate that these proposed amendments to the NESHAP will reduce excess emissions of HAP from flares in the PEPO Production source category by an additional 75 tpy.