The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends ASTM D6866 as the standard for the determination of biogenic CO2 from municipal solid wastes used as fuel combustion source.
Companies will be required to report their greenhouse gas inventories. According to the the EPA, carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of biogenic fuels shall be excluded from the calculations of GHG inventories. Hence, there is a need for companies to quantify biogenic carbon dioxide so they can subtract this from their GHG inventories – which should only account for emissions from fossil fuel-based inputs.
The EPA mandates that plants with units that combust MSW should use ASTM Methods D6866-06a and D7459-08 to determine the relative proportions of biogenic and non-biogenic CO2 emissions.
The ASTM D6866-06a analysis will also be performed at least once in every calendar quarter in which MSW is combusted in the unit. Each gas sample shall be taken using ASTM D7459-08, during normal unit operating conditions while MSW is the only fuel being combusted, for at least 24 consecutive hours or for as long as is necessary to obtain a sample large enough to meet the specifications of ASTM D6866-06a.
According to the US EPA website, the proposed rule was signed by the Administrator on March 10, 2009 and will be published in the Federal Register under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0508. The public comment period is open for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.
UPDATE: Final Greenhouse Gas Mandatory Reporting Rule published in 2009
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 and is filed under Biobased Regulations, Renewable Carbon .