3EPA UMMSutn CnvwwMieraai Protection Afw* Office o( Soi.d W«ii( and Em«rj«ricy R«toor<>« DIRECTIVE NUMBER: 9472.00-4 TITLE: Totally Enclosed Treatment Facility - Regulatory Clarification APPROVAL DATE: July 27, 1981 EFFECTIVE DATE: July 27, 1981 ORIGINATING OFFICE: Office of Solid Waste B FINAL ~ DRAFT STATUS: [ 1 [ 1 [ ] t ] REFERENCE (othtr documents): A- Pending 0MB approval B- Pending AA-OSWER approval C- For review i/or coament D- In development or circulating headquarters nswFR newpp ncw/ee 'E DIRECTIVE DIRECTIVE D ------- 53te^nvSonm5!ta^rot•3!o!^5an5^^™™™™™,™ SCPA Washington. OC 20460 ocm qswER Directive Initiation Request 1. Directive Number 9472.00-4 2. Originator Information Nffi?eW!3S3.«y 3. Title M«5 Office OSW W«&*7924 Totally Enclosed Treatment Facility - Regulatory Clarification 4. Summary of Directive (include brief statement of purpose) Establishes criteria for totally enclosed treatment under RCRA. 5. Keywords Totally Enclosed Treatment 6a. Does This Directive Supersede Previous Directive(s)? | x | ^ b. Does It Supplement Previous Directrve(s)? | „ | 1 lUNo 1 ~ ~ Yes What directive (number, title) Yes What directive (number, title) 7. Draft Level j A - Signed by AA/DAA [ [ 8 - Signed by Office Director c J C - For Review £ Comment | | D - In Development 8. Document to ba distributed to State* by Headquarters? ~ Y« ~ No This Request Meets OSWER Directives System Format Standards. 9. S ngpetDre"b( Lead Office Directives coordinator Date 10. NWU and Title of Approving Official / Peter Hubbard, OSWER Policy-! irective Coordinator Date EPA Form 131S-17 (Rev. S-»7) Previous editions are obsolete. I Mill II OSWER O VE DIRECTIVE DIRECTIVE DIRECTIVE ------- vohca ro.ncy Directive //9472.00-4 to*;lly enclosed t'eatx^-t *c:ir7> Recu 1 dto-y CI a ri f i cat ¦'or. I. I s 5 5 : From questions asl:ed since p-or-.l gat is- of the regu- lations on May 15, 1920, it is clear that the definition and pract* al applicatic of the term "tctal'y enclosed treatment facility" require clarification. II. 0 i s c s s i c -!: The definition appears in §250. 1 0 (a} as follows: Totally enclosed treatment facility means a facility for the treatment cf hazardous waste which is directly con- nected to an industrial production process and which ts constructed and operated in a manner w-Jrich prevents the release of any hazardous waste or any constituent thereof into the environment during treatment. An' example' 1s a pipe in which waste acid is neutralized. A facility (nesting this definition is exempted from the require- ments cf Parts 2 £ - and 255 (See §§25-. 1 ( c)'5) and 255. 1 (c)(5)) and, by ext-* ;io*., the owner or operator of that facility need net noti-y nor seek a permit for that process. The purpose of this provision is to -empve from active re cul ati ors those treat- ment processes which occur in close proxi-ity to t'-e industrial ?roca,^|ftj&ich generates the waste and which are constructed in s. chat there is little or no potential f:r escape of pel ViSJBP* Such facilities pose negligible ris'< to human health and the environment. The part of'the definition which has generated the most / uncertainty is the meaning of "totally enclosed." The Agency intends that a "totally enclosed" treatment facility be one which is completely contained on ell sides and poses ttle or ------- vym 4. .UU-4 2 no potential for ascape c* waste tc the er.vi ronme'r.t fvi: dj-ing periods of- process upset. The facility rjs: be const-: so that no predictable potential for overflows, spills, caseous emissions, etc., can result from malfunction of pumps, valves, etc., associated with the totally enclosed treatment or from a malfunction in the industrial process to which it is corrected. Natural calamities :r acts of sabotage or war (ea-thr. aes, tornadoes, bombing, etc.) a--e not considered c-edi ::a'ol a, how- ever. As a practical matter, the definition limits "totalVy y enclosed treatment facilities" to pipelines, tanks, aid to other chemical, physical, and biological treatment operations which are car ?d out in tank-like equipment (e.g., stills, distillation columns, or pressure vessels) and which ara con- structed a-nd c parated to prevent discharge of pctertially hazardous matarial to the environment. Th's requires ccr.sid- eration of the tr.-ee primary avenues of esc : leakage, stills, and emissions. leaking, the tank, pipe, etc., must be made of trial s. The Agency is using the term i-par-eabla in tfr^HKfcsl sense to mean no transmission of cctained materials in quantities which would be visibly apparent. Fur- ther, as w1*h any other treatment process, totally enclosed treats t facilities are subject to natural deterioratic- (cor- rosion, etc.) which could ultimately re jit In leaks. To meet the requirement in the definition that treatment be co^ductec4 ------- 3 . . in a manner which prevents the release of any ha:»r:o-js waste or any cons11 tuent thereof ir.tc the environment . . . the Age.ncy believes that an owner or operator claiming the exemption generally will h2ve to conduct inspections or ether discovery activities to detect deterioration and carry cut maintenance activities suffic i ent tc remedy it. A tank or pipe which leaks is net a totally enclosed facility. As a result, leaks must be prevented from totally enclosed facilities or the facility -s in violation of the regulations. A totally arclcsed facility must be enclosed on all side*. u- * A tank or similar equipment must have a cover which would e^lim- '1 . v inate gaseous emissions and spills. Hows'vgr, many tanks incor- porate vents and relief valves for either operating or emergency reasons. Such vents "liu'st be designed to prevent overflows of liquids and emissions of harmful gases and aerosols, where such events might occ." through normal operation, equipment failure, • • t or process upset. This can often be accomplished by the use of traps, recycle lines, and sorption columns of various designs to prevent sgi11s ard gaseous emissio •. If effectively protected by suI^^^BmIcss , a vented tank would qualify as a totally 6nclo^^HBt«tn>er.t facility. Wheir consi deri ng protective devices for tank vents, the question arises as to whether the protective device is itself adequate. The test involves a judgment as to whether the overflow or gaseous emission passing through the vent will be ------- prevented from reaching the environment. "cr example, an open catchment basin for overflows is not satisfactory if the hazardous constituents in the waste ~ay be emitted to the air. Similarly, it may also not be satisfactory if it is only I'rge enough to hold the tank overflow far a brief period be-f ? it also overflows. However, even in this situation, alar.? systems could be installed to ensure that the capacity of the catchment basin is not exceeded. Where air emissions from vents or relief valv.s are concerned, if the waste is non-volatile or the emi .ions cannot contain gases cr aerosols which could »e hazardous in the atmosphere, then no protective devices are necessary. An example might be a pressure relief valve on a tan'* containing non-volatile waste . Where potentially harmful emissions could occur,- then positive steps must be taken. -"or example, the vent could be connected to an incinerator cr pro- cess kiln. Alternately, a sorption column might be suitable if emiss'cn rates are lew, the efficiency of the column approaches 100 percent, and alarms or other safeguards are available so that the, upset causing the emission will be rectified before the cd^Ehr of the column is exceeded. Scrubbers will normally not ^^^Hrfcten? because of their ter.'ency to malfunction and ef f i ctarTFfes typically do not approach ICO percent. Tanks sometimes have floating roofs. To be eligible as a totally enclosed facility, such tanks should be constructed so that the roof has a sliding seal on the side which is designed ------- to :revent gaseous emissions and :rotect against possi:! overflow. The p^rt of the definition reoui-ing that totally enclose: treatment facilities be "directly connected to an industrial production process" also generates sore uncertainty. As long as the process is integrally connected via pipe to the product*; or process, there is no potential for the waste to bs lest. The term "industrial production process" was meant to include only those ; .cesses which produce a product, an intermediate, a byproduct, or a material which is used ba^Sk in the production process. Thus, a totally enclosed treatment- ope_rat i on-, inte- grally connected downstream from a wastewater treatment lagoon would not be eligible for the exemption because the process to which it is connected is not an "industrial production process.* Neither would any totally enclosed treatment process at an off- site hazard :i waste management facility qualify, unless it wera i.niegrally conne.cced via pipeline to the ge":era'tcr1 s production process. Obviously, a waste transported by truck or rail is noj^jfifctgrally connected to the production orocess. ^^Hpirdous waste treatment is .often conducted in a series of^S^^Vperaticn:, each connected by pipe to the other. As long.as one end of a treatment train is integrally connected to a production process, and each unit operation is integrally con- nected to the other, all qualify for the exemption if they meat the requirement of being "totally enclosed." If one unit opera- tion is not "totally enclosed" or is not "integrally connected," ------- ObWtK fO-Llcy Uliecuve -r 0 0 then only unit coer .ions uostree"* fro- that unit woul: cuali-'v for the execpti or.. The unit 2nd dowr. strea- p-ccess wou 1 d requ i re 2 permit. The device connecting the totally enclosed treatment facil- ity to the generating process will normally be 1 pipe. However, sone pipes (e.g., sewers) are constructed with manholes, vents, sumps, and other openings. Pipeswith such openings may qualify as totally enclosed only if there is no potent"' el for amissions or overflow of liquids during periods of process upset, or if equipment (sorption columns, catchr.ent basisn, etc.) has be*n installed to prevent escape of hazardous waste or any potentially hazardous constituent thereof to the environment. This exemption for totally enclosed tr ;tment facilities applies only to the facility itself. The effluent from .that facility nay st^ll be regulated. If the waste entering the totally'enclosed treatment facility is listed in Subpart 0 of Part 251, then the effluent from the facility is automatically a ha-zarccus w»: t e e~d must be trea*3d as such, unless it is "del isted'V.Jjfc accordance with §§253. 23 and 260.22. If, on the other waste entering the totally enclosed treatment feci 1 ityB^Mpirdous because it meets 'one of the characteris- tics described in Subpart C of Part 261, then the effluent waste is a regulated hazardous wast only 1f the effluent meets one of the characteristics. Sinca the totally enclosed treat- ment facility is exempted from the regulatory requlrements, it is only the effluents from such p :«sse& which are of interest ------- OSWER Policy Directive #9472.00-4 tc :n* Ajfficy. ?hs, wne:ner the -2 s: ? in a totally e~;!o treatment facility must be considered towards the. 123C g / ?? c n: ssill qyantity generator 1 isn't, depends on whether is a rege- lated hazardous west? as it exits the totally enclosed treatment fa c i1 it y. nil \ y , i : ;s ifljortint to note that if the e fc 1 j e .1: s ro ~ j tota'iy encloses : -ei :^?n* • a c • < " t y a.-® -dfschartec a surface water ;>ody (lake or stream) or to a ouolicly owned treatment works or sewer line connected thereto, then these wastes are not subject to the 3CRA hazardous was£e controls 46 «» all but are, instead, subject to the Clean Water Act and. refy- lations promulgated thereunder (See 45 FR 75075). III. Resolution: In sum, a "totally enclosed treatment facil- i ty" must: (a) 3e completely contained on all sides. ¦(b) Pose negligible potential for escape of constituents to the environment except through natural caTamaties or acts of sabotage or war. ( nnected -directly by pipeline or-similar totally device to an industrial production process Kill: produces a product, byproduct, intermediate, or a material which is used back .n the process. ------- |