1. (a) A person may not permit the operation of a coke oven battery in a manner that visible fugitive air contaminants are emitted in excess of the emissions allowed by the following limitations:

   1. (1) The following open charging limitation applies to existing batteries listed in § 121.1 (relating to definitions). The following closed charging limitation applies to any existing battery on which a closed charging system is installed:

      1. (i) Open charging. At no time may the aggregated times of visible open charging emissions during any four consecutive charges equal more than 75 seconds.
      2. (ii) Closed charging. At no time may there be closed charging emissions during more than one charge out of any ten consecutive charges.
   2. (2) At no time may door area emissions from any coke oven exceed 40% opacity 15 minutes or longer after the last charge to that oven.
   3. (3) At no time may there be any visible door area emissions from more than 10% of the door area of operating coke ovens, excluding the two-door area representing the last oven charged on any battery and any door areas obstructed from view.
   4. (4) At no time may there be visible topside emissions from more than 2.0% of the charging port seals on operating coke ovens in any battery, excluding visible emissions from no more than three ovens which may be dampered off.
   5. (5) At no time may there be topside emissions from more than 5.0% of the offtake piping on operating coke ovens in any battery, excluding visible emissions from open standpipe caps on no more than three ovens which may be dampered off.
   6. (6) At no time may there be topside emissions from any point on the topside other than allowed emissions from charging port seals and offtake piping under paragraphs (4) and (5).
   7. (7) At no time may there be visible emissions from the coke oven gas collector main.

2. (b) The following techniques shall be used for measuring and recording visible fugitive air contaminants from a coke oven battery:

   1. (1) Observations of open and closed charging emissions shall be made from any point or points on the topside of a coke oven battery from which an observer can obtain an unobstructed view of the charging operation. The observer shall determine and record the total number of seconds that charging emissions are visible during the charging of coal to the coke oven. The observer shall time the visible charging emissions with a stopwatch while observing the charging operation. Simultaneous emissions from more than one emission point shall be timed and recorded as one emission and may not be added individually to the total time. Open charging emissions may not include any emissions observed after all the charging port covers have been firmly seated following the removal of the larry car, such as emissions occurring when a cover is temporarily removed to permit the sweep-in of spilled coal. The total number of seconds of visible emissions observed, clock time for the initiation and completion of the charging operation, battery identification, and oven number for each charge shall be recorded by the observer. In the event that observations of emissions from a charge are interrupted due to events beyond the control of observer, the data from that charge shall be invalidated and the observer shall note on his observation sheet the reason for invalidating the data. The observer shall then resume observation of the next consecutive charge or charges, and continue until he has obtained a set of four charges for comparison with the emission standard. Compliance with subsection (a)(1) shall be determined by summing the seconds of charging emissions observed during each of the four charges.
   2. (2) Observations of door area emissions for the purpose of determining compliance with subsection (a)(2) shall be made at a point above the top of the door but below the battery top, or at the top of any local door area emission control hood. The observer shall place himself no less than 25 feet from the face of the door in a location where his view of the door area is unobstructed.

   3. (3) Observations of door area emissions for determining compliance with subsection (a)(3) shall be made from a minimum distance of 25 feet from each door. Each door area shall be observed in sequence for only that period necessary to determine whether or not, at the time, there are visible emissions from any point on the door area while the observer walks along the side of the battery. If the observer’s view of a door area is more than momentarily obstructed, for example, by door machinery, pushing machinery, coke guide, luter truck or opaque steam plumes, he shall record the door area obstructed and the nature of the obstruction and continue the observations with the next door area in sequence which is not obstructed. The observer shall continue this procedure along the entire length of the battery for both sides and shall record the battery identification, battery side and oven door identification number of each door area exhibiting visible emissions. Before completing the observation of door area emissions, the observer shall attempt to reobserve the obstructed doors. Compliance with subsection (a)(3) shall be calculated by application of the following formula, which excludes two door areas representing the last oven charged from the numerator and obstructed door areas from the denominator:

      

   4. (4) Observations of visible emissions from a coke oven topside, other than emissions from the topside defined as open or closed charging emissions or pushing emissions, shall be made and recorded during the time an observer walks the topside of a battery from one end to the other, positioning himself near the center line. During the traverse, the observer may stray from near the center line of the battery and walk as close to the offtake piping as is necessary to determine whether an observed emission is emanating from the offtake piping. Each oven shall be observed in sequence. The observer shall record the battery identification, the points of topside emission from each oven, the oven number and whether an oven was dampered off. Compliance with subsection (a)(4) shall be determined by application of the following formula:

      

Authority

The provisions of this § 123.44 issued under section 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 510-20); and section 5 of the Air Pollution Control Act (35 P. S. § 4005).

Source

The provisions of this § 123.44 adopted August 12, 1977, effective December 31, 1977, 7 Pa.B. 2251; corrected November 4, 1977, effective December 31, 1977, 7 Pa.B. 3260; amended August 12, 1983, effective August 13, 1983, 13 Pa.B. 2478; amended December 26, 1997, effective December 27, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 6804. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (215785) to (215788).

Cross References

This section cited in 25 Pa. Code § 123.1 (relating to prohibition of certain fugitive emissions); and 25 Pa. Code § 129.16 (relating to door maintenance, adjustment and replacement practices).