Overview of the Multi-Sector Air Pollutants Regulations: part 1

Some boilers and heaters are significant sources of NO_X, and the MSAPR will generate substantial emission reductions and associated benefits to human health and the environment.

For the purposes of the MSAPR, a boiler burns gaseous fossil fuels, such as natural gas, and transfers the thermal energy released by that combustion to water, steam or another fluid for use in industrial processes or heating. A heater directly heats the material being processed. Boilers and heaters are typically comprised of a combustion chamber, burners, a pressure vessel (only for boilers), and control/monitoring equipment. In the MSAPR, an incinerator is not considered a heater.

The MSAPR apply to large boilers and heaters at facilities in many industrial sectors (aluminium and alumina; base metal smelting; cement; chemicals and fertilizers; electricity; iron ore pellets; iron, steel and ilmenite; natural gas transmission pipeline; oil sands; potash; pulp and paper; and upstream oil and gas). Most of the boilers and heaters are located in the oil sands and upstream oil and gas sectors. Approximately 820 pre-existing boilers and heaters will be subject to the MSAPR, nearly half of which are in the oil sands sector.

Boilers and heaters in facilities in other sectors (e.g., the commercial, residential, institutional, petroleum refining and other industrial sectors) are not subject to the MSAPR.

The performance standards in the MSAPR depend on several factors:

• whether the equipment is existing (called “pre-existing” in the MSAPR), redesigned, transitional, or new (called “modern” in the MSAPR)
• whether it is a boiler or a heater
• the type of fuel it combusts (i.e. either natural gas or alternative gas)
• for a heater, the amount of air preheat
• for a boiler, its efficiency

The performance standards range from 16 grams of NO_X per gigajoule of energy input (g/GJ) for a new boiler or heater that burns natural gas and has an efficiency of 80%, to 40 g/GJ for a large transitional boiler.

No, the MSAPR apply to pre-existing equipment at facilities in the Air Quality Management System (AQMS) industrial sectors. We estimate that only a small number of those boilers and heaters will need to be refurbished with NO_X control technology, but that this will lead to significant reductions in emissions.

The MSAPR will result in emission reductions across Canada. The size of equipment and the amount of time that it operates will determine the size of the reductions from each unit. Between 2016 and 2035, it is estimated that there will be a 99 kt reduction in NO_X emissions due to these Regulations. The expected benefit is valued at around $410 million.

The performance standards in the Regulations are of comparable stringency to those required for similar equipment in many areas of the U.S. Some states, such as California, have more stringent requirements; other states do not regulate NO_X emissions from gas-fired boilers and heaters.

We anticipate that industry will be able to comply with the MSAPR by replacing the burners in their existing equipment with low-NO_X burners. There is a range of readily available technologies from manufacturers within North America that can be used to meet these performance standards. The total estimated cost to industry to comply with the Regulations is around $87 million, between 2016 and 2035.