MANY CHEMICAL plants are "major sources" for existing steam generation equipment (boilers) and process heating equipment, and must comply with boiler maximum-achievable-control-technology (MACT) regulations by January 31st, 2016. For major sources, all units that use 10 MMBtu/h of fuel must undergo a one-time energy assessment. The law also requires investigation of a certain percentage of end-use systems for energy-savings opportunities. This is akin to a systems approach and promises significantly larger potential benefits. Boiler MACT defines the minimum extent of the end-use system energy assessment based on the amount of total energy input to the unit. This can be confusing and lead to very varied definitions and scopes for the energy assessment. Hence, take care identifying the end-use areas that must be covered as a minimum in the energy assessment. The boiler MACT guideline specifies assessment of a minimum of 50% of the end-use system energy for energy usage less than 0.3 trillion Btu/yr (TBtu/yr), and a minimum of 33% for energy usage between 0.3 and 1 TBtu/yr. Energy usage greater than 1 TBtu/yr requires a minimum assessment of 20% of the end-use system energy.
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