Large Boilers
901. Boilers
The Air Quality Standard Permit for Boilers is authorized under the Texas Health and Safety Code Section 382.05195, which authorizes the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to issue this standard permit for many similar facilities.
- Boilers should have an input greater than 40 MMBTU with natural gas or fuel gas as the primary fuel to me the Boiler Standard Permit.
- If the boiler cannot meet the conditions of this standard permit, it may qualify for other permitting options or a Permit by Rule. To review your options, see Types of New Source Review Authorizations.
BMP
To maintain water efficiency in operations and maintenance, Federal agencies should:
- Maintain unit in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications.
- Maintain, review and compare fuel and maintenance logs.
- Develop and implement a routine inspection and maintenance program to check steam traps and steam lines for leaks. Repair leaks and replace faulty steam traps as soon as possible.
- Develop and implement a boiler tuning program to be completed a minimum of once per operating year.
- Provide proper insulation on piping and the central storage tank.
- Blowdown (the periodic or continuous removal of water from a boiler to remove accumulated dissolved solids and/or sludge) is a common mechanism to reduce contaminant build-up. Proper control of blowdown is critical to boiler operation. Insufficient blowdown may lead to deposits or carryover. Excessive blowdown wastes water, energy, and chemicals.
- Obtain the services of a water treatment specialist to prevent system scale and corrosion and to optimize cycles of concentration. Treatment programs should include routine checks of boiler water chemistry.
- Develop and implement routine inspections and maintenance programs on condensate pumps.
- Regularly clean and inspect boiler water and fire tubes. Reducing scale buildup improves heat transfer and the system energy efficiency.
- Employ an expansion tank to temper boiler blowdown drainage rather than cold water mixing.
- Install meters on boiler system make up lines.
- Install meters on make-up lines to recirculating closed water loop heating systems so that leaks can easily be detected.
- Consider summer shutdown, especially for those systems primarily used for space comfort heating.
P2-E2
- Encourage use of low sulfur fuel where possible.