A Guide to

Calculating Your
Boiler Emissions
A step-by-step manual for
your convenience
1
Contents

The Importance of Emissions Calculations ................................. 3
Why You Need to Calculate Your Boiler Emissions ....................... 4
The Newest Boiler Regulations.................................................. 5
Getting Started: Collecting the Information You Will Need .......... 8
SCC Numbers ......................................................................................................... 8
AP42 Emission Factors ........................................................................................... 9
Total Amount of Fuel Used .................................................................................. 10
Control Efficiency ................................................................................................. 10
How to Calculate Your Boiler Emissions ................................... 13
List of Equation Variations .................................................................................. 13
Sample Calculations ............................................................................................ 15
Summing Up Your Boiler Emissions .................................................................... 16
How to Ease Your Responsibilities ........................................... 18
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First Things First
3
The Importance of Emissions Calculations
One of the most significant struggles for owners and operators of industrial,
commercial, and institutional boilers is calculating and reporting their
hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions to their regional and federal
authorities.
The biggest hurdle for Site Managers in todays lean manufacturing
environment is a lack of time to compile the necessary information and
accurately calculate the emissions for each and every type of boiler and
each type of air pollutant in their facilities.
ERA Environmental Consulting has prepared this step-by-step guide to
help you understand how to correctly calculate and report the emissions
produced by your boilers. Inside youll find:
How to find the data youll use for your calculations
Formulas youll need to calculate your boiler emissions
Information about the most recent boiler regulations
Examples to help you do your calculations
How to make your emission calculating easier and faster
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Why You Need to Calculate Your
Boiler Emissions
Industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers
in the United States are all subject to the rules
and the regulations determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
EPA is mandated by law to regulate boiler
emissions in order to enforce the U.S. Clean Air
Act (CAA).
These boiler standards are known as NESHAPsNational Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Each industry has its own specific
set of standards that restrict the amount of pollutants boilers are allowed to
emit into the environment.
The EPA determines these air emission limits using a maximum achievable
control technology (MACT) approach, which compares the best functioning
boilers across a specific industry to find an achievable standard of air
emission reduction.
For more detailed information about the science behind the EPAs
NESHAPs and MACT standards, download ERAs free Guide Getting to
Grips With MACTs and NESHAPs.
In order to demonstrate your compliance with the EPAs NESHAP emission
limits, you will need to calculate your total boiler emissions and
report the results to your relevant reporting authority.
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The Newest Boiler Regulations
Recently, the EPA passed a new set of boiler MACT regulations, directed at
area source and major source boilers.
These new regulations would institute new emissions limits and work
practices for every type of boiler across every sector of industry.
However, following public outcry and a flood of commentary from boiler
owners and the public, the EPA has announced it is officially delaying the
effective date of its major source boiler regulations so that it can
reconsider the new rules.
Owners and operators of area source boilers are still required to comply
with the newest EPA boiler MACT standards. The compliance date for area
boilers subject to tune-ups is March 21 2012, and for area source boilers
subject to emission limits is March 21 2014.
Substances that are affected by these new emission limits for area source
boilers include mercury, particulate matter (PM), and carbon monoxide.
An area source of air emissions is defined by EPA as any
stationary source, or group of stationary sources, that
annually emits in aggregate less than 10 tons of any single
hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or less than 25 tons of
multiple HAPs.
A major source is defined as any stationary source, or
group of stationary sources, that annually emits in
aggregate at least 10 tons of any single HAP or at least 25
tons of multiple HAPs.
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In order to demonstrate compliance with these new limits, you need to
calculate your boilers air emissions and have the information ready
to report.
For a complete list of all the newest boiler MACT standards, including
compliance dates, background information about the EPAs official
reconsideration, exceptions, and how they affect your business now,
download ERAs free white paper: A Guide to the New Boiler MACT
Regulations.
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Getting
Started...
8
Getting Started: Collecting the
Information You Will Need
The first step in properly determining your total
boiler emissions is gathering the necessary
preliminary data that you will use during your
calculations.
Some of this necessary information will come from
an outside authority, but some of it you are obliged to
provide for yourself from your own records and stack
testing.
This section will tell you all of the raw data youll need to collect and where
to find it.
Before you can begin your calculations you will need to determine:
The SCC Number for each of your boilers
All of the AP 42 Emission Factors associated with each SCC
number
The Total Amount of Fuel Used in all of your boilers, for each
type of fuel
The Control Efficiency of all your control technology that has an
impact on your boiler emissions
SCC Numbers
Each and every boiler used in your facilities has an SCC number, also
known as a Source Classification Code. The SCC number is based on many
factors, including: the type of boiler, heat input capacity, process, fuel used,
and control technologies.
Your equipment records may already list your facilitys SCC numbers.
However, if you do not know the SCC number for each of your boilers you
will need to search this information out.
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The best source for determining SCC numbers is the Environmental
Protection Agencys online application WebFIRE. This online tool makes
it possible for you to find for your SCC number using a simple search tool.
While the SCC number is not used in the actual air emissions formula, you
will use the list of your SCC numbers to determine all of the relevant
emission factors and pollutants that you will have to report.
AP42 Emission Factors
An emission factor relates amount of a hazardous air pollutant (HAP) that
is released into the environment per unit of fuel burned. The emission
factors associated with each of your SCC numbers tell you which pollutants
you need to report for and the values you will use in your final calculations.
For example, one emission factor associated with a wood burning boiler
with a SCC of 10100911 is: 1.50 Lb of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) per ton of
wood/bark burned. If you have a boiler with the same SCC, you will need to
calculate and report your total NOx emissions.
The EPA provides a list of emission factors for most of the common fuel
types on their WebFIRE online app. You can use this tool to find the list of
pollutants and emission factors that you will need to use while calculating
your boiler emissions.
It is important to note that the EPA emission factors are simply estimates
based on the long-term emission averages for all facilities using the same
category of source.
EPA provides emission factors for the most common fuel types, but these
are just estimates based on long-term averages for all facilities in the source
category. The EPAs estimates may not accurately reflect your actual
emissions, which may be lower or higher depending on your facility and
boiler technology.
For this reason, whenever possible, it is preferable to perform stack testing
for each of your boilers emission points. This testing may show that your
boilers have a different set of emission factors than the EPAs guidelines.
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If the fuel you use is uncommon, then you will
need to determine your own unique set of
emission factors through stack testing as well.
It is possible that your facility with only one or
a few boilers will have hundreds of
emission factors to keep track of. It is
essential that you keep highly organized
documentation or use time-saving EHS
software so that you do not lose track of an
emission factor and have to find it again from a long list of data. The
average site manager spends dozens of hours researching and documenting
this type of data each reporting season.
Total Amount of Fuel Used
As part of your calculations, you will need to determine the total amount of
fuel used during your facilitys processes according to type of fuel and
boiler.
You will need to make sure to convert the fuel usage into the measurement
indicated by that fuels emission factors (including tons, gallons, cubic feet,
etc.).
Your standard inventory records should indicate how much of each fuel you
have used, making this value available at most facilities.
Remember, you only need to report the actual emissions of the fuel
burned, not the total potential emissions of your site including fuel
kept in storage. Ensure that the data you use in your calculations is usage
data and not simply inventory data.
Control Efficiency
Control efficiency indicates the capability of your control technologies to
reduce the emission of HAPs into the environment.
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These technologies play a part in how you calculate your total boiler
emissions because you are only obliged to report the emissions that enter
the environment. Any pollutants removed or destroyed by your control
technology are excluded from your final emissions.
The EPAs WebFIRE app includes SCC numbers for boilers that take into
account the most common forms of control technology. However, you are
still responsible for providing the numerical value of your control efficiency
when calculating your final emissions. You should keep track of this
information along with any modifications you do to your equipment in your
product specifications and personal records.
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How To Do
the Calculations
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How to Calculate Your Boiler Emissions
The general base equation for calculating your boiler emissions is:
Where:
E is your total boiler emission for a specific pollutant from a specific
boiler
A is the total amount of fuel used in the boiler
EF is the emission factor of a specific pollutant
ER is your total emission reduction efficiency/control efficiency (in a
decimal value) for a specific source of emissions
When an emission factor is measured in lbs/ton you can use this base
equation to calculate your emissions, but if not you will need to use a
modified version of the base equation from the following list of variations.
List of Equation Variations
Please refer to the following list of equations to determine which variation
should be used when determining your boiler emissions. Note that the
following equations calculate your emissions in lbs, which you can convert
to tons easily (2000 lbs per 1 ton).
E = A x EF x (1 ER / 100)
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For wood or coal burning boilers with an emission factor measured in
lbs/MMBtu:





For fuel oil burning boilers with an emission factor measured in lbs/10
3

gallons:



For fuel oil burning boilers with an emission factor measured in
lbs/MMBtu:

For natural gas or propane burning boilers with an emission factor
measured in lbs/10
6
cubic feet:








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Sample Calculations
We have included a few sample calculations to be used as a guide during
your own facilitys emissions calculations. Note that every boilers
calculations will differ depending on fuel type, emission factors, control
technologies, etc.
1. Wood or Coal Burning Boilers
For wood or coal, fuel amounts are measured in tons. Emission factors
are generally provided in lbs/ton or lbs/MM Btu.
Example calculati on
Fuel type: Coal
Amount of fuel burned: 518 tons
Emission factor: 5.0 lbs of CO emitted per ton
Control technology: None
518 tons of coal used x 5.0 lb/ton x (no control technology) = 2590
lbs of CO emitted
2590 lbs 2000 lbs per ton = 1.295 (1.30) tons of CO emitted
2. Fuel Oil Burning Boilers
For fuel oils, fuel amounts are measured in gallons. Emission factors are
typically provided in units of in lbs/10
3
gallons or lbs/MMBtu.
Example calculati on
Fuel type: Fuel oil
Amount of fuel burned: 150,000 gallons
Emission factor: 71 lbs of SO2 emitted per 10
3
gallons
Control technology: 95% efficient
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150,000 gallons 1000 x 71 lbs/10
3
x (1 - 0.95) = 532.5 lbs
of SO2 emitted
532.5 lbs 2000 lbs per ton = 0.266 tons emitted
3. Natural Gas or Propane Burning Boilers
For natural gas and propane boilers, fuel amounts are measured in cubic
feet. Emission factors are typically provided in units of lbs/10
6
cubic feet.
Example calculati on
Fuel type: Propane
Amount of fuel burned: 5,000,000 cubic feet
Emission factor: 7.6 lbs of Particulate Matter (PM) emitted per 10
6

cubic feet
Control technology: None
5,000,000 cubic feet 10
6
x 7.6 lbs/10
6
cubic feet x (no control
technology) = 38 lbs of PM emitted
38 lbs 2000 lbs/ton = 0.019 tons of PM emitted
Summing Up Your Boiler Emissions
You will need to perform this calculation many times, once for each
reportable pollutant from each of your boilers.
Even if you only have one boiler, you may need to do dozens or even
hundreds of calculations, depending on how many emissions factors your
boilers SCC number indicates.
If you have multiple boilers, you will need to calculate the total emissions of
each pollutant from every single boiler.
If your permit requires you to demonstrate your total emissions as a
facility, you will then need to sum up all of the emissions of a specific
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pollutant, for each relevant HAP. If your permit only requires you to report
your emissions per boiler, this final addition is not necessary.
Ultimately, the price of calculating your own boiler emissions is paid in the
countless hours of repetitive work.
While the calculations are not highly complex, the collection of data and
calculations are time consuming and have a steep opportunity cost.
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How To
Ease Your
Responsibilities
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How to Ease Your Responsibilities
Calculating your total boiler emissions can be an
enormous hassle: there are countless details to
keep track of, hundreds of equations to complete,
data to collect from outside sources and your own
records, and dozens of hours of labour time
involved.
Some site managers employ a spreadsheet to automate these calculations.
While spreadsheets can work as a temporary solution, oftentimes they
become so unruly that they take more time than they save. With all of the
data needed to calculate boiler emissions, spreadsheets often fail to
organize data and calculate emissions correctly.
It takes a great deal of training and experience to be able to create a
spreadsheet that can do everything you need it to that also contains failsafe
solutions to ensure calculations are correct. Not only does this mean youve
wasted hours of precious time, but you could also face hefty non-
compliance fines.
Many of ERAs customers stopped using spreadsheets when they
realized their spreadsheets were either under- or over-reporting their
emissions. ERA Environmental Consulting has worked for over a decade
to create a software tool that reduces the amount of time youll spend
reporting your emissions by up to 75%.
Our Environmental Management System comes built-in with all of the SCC
codes and emission factors your business could need, documents your
facilitys control technologies, and keeps track of your fuel usage.
Calculating your entire sites boiler emissions takes only
moments.
Section
Headline
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Comprehensive EMS Software from ERAs Platform
ERA has been providing comprehensive EMS software to the
manufacturing industry for nearly 2 decades.
We offer an All-in-One Environmental Management & Compliance
Software that gives you the tools you need to effectively do your job, by
eliminating redundancy and letting you focus on the Real Work of
improving your environmental performance.
These essential tools form the four main modules of our software that you
need to improve your environmental performance.
If you would like to find out more about ERAs Environmental Management
Software solutions and how they can help you manage your facilities
more efficiently and with less frustration, call us +1 (866)
493-6409 or visit www.era-environmental.com
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References
[1] EPAs WebFIRE online tool: http://cfpub.epa.gov/webfire/
Disclaimer: All information contained in this fact sheet is accurate as of
February 2013. ERA accepts no liability for the content of this fact sheet,
or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the
information provided. To ensure the accuracy of the information
provided, please contact the Environment Canada. For a more
recent revision of this document, please contact ERA at +1 (866)
493-6409.
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