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Dry Cleaner Air Toxics Standard - Compliance
Alert
MEMORANDUM
FROM:
Bruce Buckheit, Director
Air Enforcement Division
Office of Regulatory Enforcement
Elliott Gilberg, Director Chemical, Commercial Services and Municipal Division Office of Compliance
TO:
Regional Counsel, Regions I - X Regional Air Program Directors, Regions I - X
EPA believes that some Perc Dry Cleaning facilities have a problem complying with the diverter valve requirement of the dry cleaner air toxics (MACT) standard, 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart M. The purpose of this memo is to request assistance from field personnel in gathering information discussed below during inspection and compliance visits and helping to determine the extent of the compliance problem.
Field inspectors for the Regions and the States report that diverter valves do not exist on all dry cleaning machines that are employing refrigerated condensers for compliance with the standard, as required by 40 CFR 63.322(e)(3). The Agency included the diverter valve requirement in the standard so that air from outside the dry cleaning machine would not be allowed to pass through the refrigerated condenser coils. Some dry cleaning machines are equipped with a fan that operates when the dry cleaning machine door is opened to pull air into the dry cleaning machine and away from the operator at the door. The air pulled in is then sent out a vent directed to either an additional carbon adsorber or vented directly to the atmosphere. The intended purpose of pulling the air into the machine when its door is opened is to prevent any residual toxic vapor from spilling out of the door and on to the operator.
While this practice helps protect the operator from exposure to high concentrations of the vapor and is advocated to help meet the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) permissible exposure limit (PEL) for perchloroethylene, gross emissions to the air can be created in this way. The refrigerated condenser coil typically has a good deal of liquid perchloroethylene left on it after drying is completed. If outside air is allowed to sweep over these coils, the liquid on them quickly revolatilizes to a vapor, and thus emissions are created that are directed out the vent.
Because this situation could lead to extensive losses of perchloroethylene, most dry cleaning machine manufacturers would be expected to try to eliminate it. At the time the air toxics standard was being developed, EPA believed the diverter valve was the common piece of equipment employed to this end. Now it appears that there are various machines in place either using other methods that perform the same function as the diverter valve or having no control mechanism at all. However, given the dozens of manufacturers and models of dry cleaning machines in use today, further investigation will be required to determine whether these other methods are performing essentially the same function as the diverter valve.
Since there may be equivalent ways to comply with the diverter valve requirement, we wish to gather information to determine whether it is appropriate to amend the existing regulatory provision. The Emission Standards Division in OAR would have the lead to amend the MACT standard, if necessary. In determining the extent of the compliance problem, EPA Headquarters is requesting assistance from field personnel in EPA Regional Offices. As you conduct inspections or compliance visits at dry cleaning facilities in your Region and discover dry cleaning machines without diverter valves, we request that you gather information on this issue, and that you ask your States to do the same. Such information should include the model, year, and make of the machine (e.g., machine is dry-to-dry or transfer, equipped with refrigerated condensers), its location (city and state), the manufacturer, and, if available, the manufacturer's address. Any information in these cases of what is actually being done instead of using a diverter valve would be most helpful.
If you find that a dry cleaner is in compliance with all other provisions of the standard except for the diverter valve requirement, we request that you identify these cases and discuss the matter with this office and OAR before bringing an enforcement action.
This is not a No Action Assurance or a suggestion that compliance is not required. This memorandum creates no rights for regulated parties that are not expressed in the standard. Any questions about this memorandum should be directed to Charles Garlow, AED, 202-564-1088 or Robert Klepp, CCSMD, 202-564-7073. Information gathered on such non-complying machines should be forwarded to Robert Klepp, Mail Code 2224A, US EPA, 401 M St SW, Washington, D.C. 20460.
cc:
Regional Air Toxics Coordinators, Regions I-X Regional Perc NESHAP Contacts, Regions I-X Bruce Jordan, OAR George Smith, OAR