Boiler Blog | Nationwide Boiler Inc.

With California having the most stringent emissions requirements in the country, it is important to be well versed on any and all rules and regulations when buying a new boiler or renting a temporary boiler. This is our final installment of the 3-part series on air permit compliance for boilers in California (be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 if you haven’t already).

Nationwide Boiler maintains a fleet of rental units that are sub-9 ppm NOx and pre-permitted for use in the SCAQMD. We take care of the bulk of the permit work saving our customers an exponential amount of time (no waiting for the application to be approved), and we pay for any processing fees. This allows for quick installation and start-up of a temporary boiler, which is extremely valuable in an emergency outage. The only requirement of our customer is the source testing of the equipment, if the source test is due. Most of these pre-permitted boilers require source testing on an annual basis, and the source test must be done at a job site within the county’s jurisdiction.

The SJVAPCD does not allow the pre-permitting of rental boilers, but they do have a program called the Temporary Replacement Emissions Unit (TREU) which can be utilized when a rental is needed  in a pinch. This program contains an application shield provision which allows renters to install a temporary boiler in place of an existing permitted boiler that is down for repairs without having to get a new permit for the rental boiler. In order to qualify for the TREU Program, the rental boiler being installed must have a heat input equal to or less than the unit it is replacing. Plus, it must not have the potential to produce more emissions than the current permit allows. There is a time limitation to this program; the temporary boiler can be on-site for a maximum of 180 days within a 12-month period.

If you are outside of the two territories listed above, don’t fret! Nationwide Boiler can assist with the permitting process as needed. In addition, utilizing a pre-permitted boiler in a location other than the SCAQMD does have its advantages and can help expedite the permitting process.

With our headquarters being located in California, it is important to us that we are up-to-date with emissions regulations throughout the state. And with other areas of the country starting to experience a similar push for emissions reductions, we have the expertise and experience to help. Nationwide Boiler is proud to take the lead in helping customers everywhere understand and comply with current and future air regulation standards.

Nationwide Boiler attends over twenty industry events each year – from meetings to conferences to full blown tradeshows. These events are chosen strategically to keep us up to speed on the market changes in each industry, as well as provide support to clients seeking solutions. As we move into the fourth quarter of the year, we are wrapping up our 2019 tradeshow travels.

Next week, Pacific Combustion Engineering’s Mike Dorthalina will head to Yakima, WA for the Washington State Society for Healthcare Engineers (WSSHE) Annual Conference. Scheduled for October 15 – 18, the vision this year is “Transforming the Health Care Industry; Improving Patient Outcomes”. We will have a table display with literature that provides solutions for healthcare facility personnel. Whether a new boiler, rental boiler, emissions & efficiency control, or control system upgrade, Mike will be available to discuss the best solution to improve your facility process. Stop by table #4 to meet with him.

The week of November 18^th, we will have coverage at two important events, the first being the API Fall Refining and Equipment Standards Meeting in Atlanta, GA. Project and Sales Engineer, Brett Barnes, will man the Nationwide Boiler table to provide information on our products and services, with a focus on our environmental solutions, for the Petroleum Refining industry. He will also be in attendance at the Technical Standards Committee Meetings to learn about industry changes and provide valuable input during each discussion.

The second show that week is Power-Gen International in New Orleans, LA, November 19 – 21. This is typically our largest show of the year, with over 900 exhibits and thousands of attendees from the Power Generation industry. This year, Nationwide Boiler will have a team of leaders at the show, including Larry Day, Sean McMenamin, Bill Testa, Jack Valentine, Tim McBride, and Jim Barbeau. Be sure to visit us at booth #3738 to learn about the full array of product offerings available from Nationwide Boiler Inc.

And that will be a wrap for 2019 – until we begin our tradeshow tour again in the new year!

Be sure to read Part I of this series to learn about emissions requirements in the SCAQMD.

In the last edition of Boiler Blog 101, we discussed air permitting rules and regulations in the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). In part II, we will cover the basics of air permitting for boilers in another California district that leads the country in air pollution control; the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD).

The SJVAPCD was founded in 1991 with a mission to improve the health and quality of life for all Valley residents through efficient, effective and entrepreneurial air quality management strategies. The SJVAPCD is made up of eight counties in the Central Valley of California; San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern.

The rules that have been set forth specifically for boilers, steam generators, and process heaters are outlined below:

	QUALIFYING UNITS	NOx LIMIT
Rule 4306	Units Greater Than 5 MMBtu/hr Units Greater Than 20 MMBtu/hr	15 ppm 9 ppm
Rule 4307	Units 2.0 MMBtu/hr to 5.0 MMBtu/hr	30 ppm
Rule 4308	Units 0.075 MMBtu/hr to Less Than 2.0 MMBtu/hr	20 ppm
ADVANCED EMISSION REDUCTION OPTIONS
Rule 4320	Units Greater Than 5 MMBtu/hr Units Greater Than 20 MMBtu/hr	9 ppm 7 ppm
*NOx limits listed are standard options for existing gaseous fuel-fired equipment. Enhanced options as well as limits for new and replacement units will differ. Click each rule to review the full details; certain exemptions may apply.

 

Starting at the beginning of 2019, the SJVAPCD implemented a new rule titled, Best Available Control Technology (BACT). This rule requires that all new permits meet the lowest NOx limits that have been achieved, regardless of what is mandated. In addition, due to Assembly Bill 617, boiler owners in the SJVAPCD are mandated to meet Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT) for any existing equipment retrofits. This means that when your boiler needs to be upgraded or replaced, it must meet more stringent NOx limits, which can be as low as 7 ppm.

These rules can be overwhelming, which is why Nationwide Boiler’s AQMD experts are capable and ready to assist you with the permitting process needed for your facility. Furthermore, we can help you reduce NOx to comply with your air emissions regulations. Nationwide Boiler’s CataStak™ SCR system is proven to reduce NOx levels to as low as 2.5 ppm. Contact us today for more details.

Stay tuned for Part III, where we will discuss renting boilers in California.

Combustion equipment safety is essential for the daily operation of facilities and safety of plant personnel. Safety protocols and mechanisms in industrial plants have improved drastically in the last century, but incidents still occur far too frequently. Because boiler systems are inherently dangerous, safety must be factored into the design of not just the boiler, but also the burner, combustion control, and the overall operation of the system.

The burner management system (BMS) is just one of many safety devices built into a boiler system, designed to control the combustion process from beginning to end in a safe and reliable manner. It monitors high and low gas pressure, the combustion air fan, combustion air, and water levels, in addition to monitoring safety devices and controlling the sequence of lighting the burner. If any issues arise related to pressure or water level, it will initiate closure of the shut-off valves. To automate these processes, PLC-based controls are often used as a BMS. PLC based BMS gives you much more flexibility, the ability to use analog input signals as limits, limit voting and the versatility to have almost unlimited safety limits.

A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is a robust computer utilized for industrial automation. Although a PLC doesn’t physically look like a typical computer, it incorporates the very same technology seen in computers and smart devices that we use every day. The PLC receives information from connected sensors or input devices, processes the data, and triggers outputs based on pre-programmed parameters. It consists of a power supply, a CPU (central processing unit), input and output cards, and communication cards. A programming device (often a laptop computer) is utilized for writing programs into the PLC and HMI (human machine interface) which provides a visual model of the system as a whole.

Compared to traditional technologies, a PLC-based system is easier to troubleshoot, more reliable, more cost-effective, and much more versatile. In addition, PLC-based controls provide added levels of safety for the burner management system and overall operation of your boiler. PLCs are built in compliance with NFPA 85 and SIL2 requirements at minimum and can be configured to meet SIL3 standards as well. Therefore, we are seeing boiler control panels being built or updated to PLC-based systems more than ever.

Pacific Combustion Engineering has extensive knowledge and experience in the design, build, and programming of PLC-based combustion control systems. If you are in the market for an upgrade or brand-new panel that incorporates PLC, give us a call and we will design a system that fits your unique process needs.