United States Solid Waste and EPA530-F-98-014
Environmental Protection Emergency Response www.epa.gov/osw
Agency (5305W) July 1998
Office of Solid Waste
c/EPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
Final Standards Promulgated for
Petroleum Refining Waste
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a final rule to add
four new hazardous waste codes to its current lists of hazardous waste. This final rule
satisfies the mandates under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 to
make listing determinations for wastes generated from petroleum refining.
Background
The U.S. petroleum refining industry consists of approximately 180 facilities that manufacture
a wide variety of fuel and lubrication products and petrochemical feedstocks. The fuel and
lubrication products are used primarily for transportation and home heating fuels. Under Subtitle C
of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress authorized EPA to regulate
the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste, and, under RCRA section 3001(b) and
section 3001(e)(2), Congress specifically directs EPA to determine if petroleum refining wastes
should be listed as RCRA hazardous. Currently, RCRA regulations list as hazardous seven waste
streams generated by petroleum refining operations.
In June of 1991, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and EPA entered into a proposed
consent decree (per EDF v. Browner, Civ. No. 89-0598 (D.D.C.)) in which the Agency agreed to
publish a final listing determination for 14 petroleum refining process wastes. On November 20,
1995, EPA proposed (59 FR 57747) to list three of the 14 refining wastes as RCRA hazardous
waste: clarified slurry oil (CSO) storage tank sediment (K170), spent hydrotreating catalyst
(K171), and spent hydro refining catalyst (K172). The Agency also proposed not to list 11 other
petroleum refining wastes and proposed options to allow CSO sediment disposal in nonhazardous
landfills. In addition, the proposal contained several exclusions, which are explained in the FR
notice.
On April 8, 1997, EPA issued a Notice of Data Availability (NODA - 62 FR 16747) in
response to comments received on the proposed rule's risk assessment data. The NODA sought
public comment on additional modeling analyses, waste characterizations, disposal practice
analyses, and other evaluations that could impact risk assessment results.
Action
This final rule adds four RCRA hazardous waste codes to its current list:
• K169~Crude oil storage tank sediment from petroleum refining operations.
• K170~Clarified slurry oil storage tank sediment and/or in-line filter/separation solids from
petroleum refining operations.
-------
• K171~Spent hydrotreating catalyst from petroleum refining operations, including guard beds
used to desulfurize feeds to other catalytic reactors (excludes inert support media).
• K172~Spent hydro refining catalyst from petroleum refining operations, including guard beds
used to desulfurize feeds to other catalytic reactors (excludes inert support media).
EPA is also finalizing treatment standards under the land disposal restrictions for these four
new hazardous wastes. This listing determination is based on risk assessment results that show that
certain concentrations of chemicals (benzene, arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs)) contained in these wastes may pose potential hazards to human health and the
environment when disposed of in landfills and land treatment units. EPA has made a final
determination not to list the 10 remaining petroleum refining wastes evaluated.
The Agency is also promulgating the following exclusions related to the petroleum refining
industry:
1) An exclusion for oil-bearing secondary materials that are generated at petroleum refineries and
are inserted into petroleum refining processes to facilitate continued hydrocarbon recovery;
2) An exclusion for certain types of recovered oil from petrochemical facilities, when the oil is
recycled by being returned to a co-located petroleum refinery for insertion along with normal
refinery process streams; and
3) An exclusion for spent caustic generated by petroleum refineries when used as a feedstock in
the manufacture of certain commercial chemical products.
Applicability
This rule applies to owners or operators of facilities that generate, transport, store, treat, or
dispose of wastes listed as RCRA codes K169, K170, K171, and/or K172. Treatment, storage,
and disposal operations involving these wastes are also subject to the permitting and land disposal
restriction requirements of RCRA. In addition, these wastes are deemed hazardous substances
under the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA).
Therefore, any parties participating in CERCLA or EPCRA activities involving the newly listed
wastes must comply accordingly. For example, responsible parties must report releases of 10
pounds or greater for waste code K169 and 1 pound or greater for waste codes K170, K171, and
K172.
For More Information
The Federal Register notice and this fact sheet are available in electronic format on the
Internet through the EPA Public Access Server. For additional information or to order paper
copies of the Federal Register notice, call the RCRA Hotline at (800) 424-9346 outside the
Washington, DC, area and (703) 412-9810 within the Washington, DC, area. Copies of documents
applicable to this rule may be obtained by writing: RCRA Information Center (RIC), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste (5305W), 401 M Street SW,
Washington, DC 20460.
------- |