§ 63.301 - Definitions.

§ 63.301 Definitions.

Terms used in this subpart are defined in the Act or in this section as follows:

Administrator means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or his or her authorized representative (e.g., a State that has been delegated the authority to implement the provisions of this subpart or its designated agent).

Brownfield coke oven battery means a new coke oven battery that replaces an existing coke oven battery or batteries with no increase in the design capacity of the coke plant as of November 15, 1990 (including capacity qualifying under § 63.304(b)(6), and the capacity of any coke oven battery subject to a construction permit on November 15, 1990, which commenced operation before October 27, 1993.

Bypass stack at a heat recovery facility means a stack through which emissions are discharged from a common tunnel that collects gases from a coke oven battery. and where the emissions are not passed through a heat recovery unit. Common tunnels typically are equipped with afterburners to further reduce organic emissions in the coke oven gas.

Bypass/bleeder stack means a stack, duct, or offtake system that is opened to the atmosphere and used to relieve excess pressure by venting raw coke oven gas from the collecting main to the atmosphere from a by-product coke oven battery, usually during emergency conditions.

By-product coke oven battery means a source consisting of a group of ovens connected by common walls, where coal undergoes destructive distillation under positive pressure to produce coke and coke oven gas, from which by-products are recovered. Coke oven batteries in operation as of April 1, 1992, are identified in appendix A to this subpart.

Certified observer means a visual emission observer, certified under (if applicable) Method 303 and Method 9 or ASTM D7520-16 (if applicable; see § 63.14 for availability) and employed by the Administrator, which includes a delegated enforcement agency or its designated agent. For the purpose of notifying an owner or operator of the results obtained by a certified observer, the person does not have to be certified.

Charge or charging period means, for a by-product coke oven battery, the period of time that commences when coal begins to flow into an oven through a topside port and ends when the last charging port is recapped. For a nonrecovery coke oven battery, charge or charging period means the period of time that commences when coal begins to flow into an oven and ends when the push side door is replaced.

Coke oven battery means either a by-product or nonrecovery coke oven battery.

Coke oven door means each end enclosure on the pusher side and the coking side of an oven. The chuck, or leveler-bar, door is part of the pusher side door. A coke oven door includes the entire area on the vertical face of a coke oven between the bench and the top of the battery between two adjacent buckstays.

Cold-idle coke oven battery means an existing coke oven battery that has been shut down, but is not dismantled.

Collecting main means any apparatus that is connected to one or more offtake systems and that provides a passage for conveying gases under positive pressure from the by-product coke oven battery to the by-product recovery system.

Collecting main repair means any measure to stop a collecting main leak on a long-term basis. A repair measure in general is intended to restore the integrity of the collecting main by returning the main to approximately its design specifications or its condition before the leak occurred. A repair measure may include, but is not limited to, replacing a section of the collecting main or welding the source of the leak.

Consecutive charges means charges observed successively, excluding any charge during which the observer's view of the charging system or topside ports is obscured.

Corrective action means the design, operation and maintenance changes that one takes consistent with good engineering practice to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of the recurrence of the primary cause and any other contributing cause(s) of an event identified by a root cause analysis as having resulted in a discharge of gases from an affected facility in excess of specified thresholds.

Day for monitoring purposes means any operation of the unit of more than three hours total for any time in the 24-hour period between 12:00 a.m. on one calendar day and 12:00 a.m. on the next calendar day.

Design capacity means the original design capacity of a coke oven battery, expressed in megagrams per year of furnace coke.

Fenceline is a location on the border of the coke oven manufacturing facility property.

Foundry coke producer means a coke producer that is not and was not on January 1, 1992, owned or operated by an integrated steel producer and had on January 1, 1992, an annual design capacity of less than 1.25 million megagrams per year (1.38 million tons per year) (not including any capacity satisfying the requirements of § 63.300(d)(2) or § 63.304(b)(6)).

Greenfield coke oven battery means a coke oven battery for which construction is commenced at a plant site (where no coke oven batteries previously existed) after December 4, 1992.

Heat and/or nonrecovery coke oven battery means a group of ovens, connected by common side walls, in which coal undergoes destructive distillation under negative pressure to produce coke and coke oven gas and from which by-products are not recovered. The common tunnels typically contain afterburners to further reduce organic emissions in the coke oven gas. For nonrecovery plants (i.e., no chemical recovery) with heat recovery, the oven gases are vented through common tunnels to a heat recovery steam generator that produces steam. Heat recovery coke oven batteries may release oven gases through common tunnels and then into the atmosphere through bypass stacks when the heat recovery steam generators are not available due to maintenance or repair. For nonrecovery coke oven batteries (i.e., no chemical recovery) without heat recovery, oven gases are vented through common tunnels and then released to the atmosphere through waste heat stacks.

Heat recovery steam generator is a process unit that recovers heat from coke oven gas in order to produce steam. Units typically are equipped with desulfurization units and baghouses to remove pollutants from the exhaust gases.

Heat recovery steam generator bypass/waste heat stack means a stack that allows coke oven gas to be vented from the coke oven batteries through common tunnels and into the atmosphere when there are no heat recovery steam generator units available for heat recovery. Common tunnels typically are equipped with afterburners to further reduce organic emissions in the coke oven gas.

Heat recovery steam generator main stack means the stack that is the point of final discharge to the atmosphere of the gases emanating from a heat recovery steam generator and its control devices, which typically are desulfurization units and baghouses.

Integrated steel producer means a company or corporation that produces coke, uses the coke in a blast furnace to make iron, and uses the iron to produce steel. These operations may be performed at different plant sites within the corporation.

Malfunction means any sudden, infrequent, and not reasonably preventable failure of air pollution control equipment, process equipment, or a process to operate in a normal or usual manner which causes, or has the potential to cause, the emission limitations in an applicable standard to be exceeded. Failures caused in part by poor maintenance or careless operation are not malfunctions.

New shed means a shed for which construction commenced after September 15, 1992. The shed at Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Bethlehem plant on Battery A is deemed not to be a new shed.

Nonrecovery coke oven battery means a source consisting of a group of ovens connected by common walls and operated as a unit, where coal undergoes destructive distillation under negative pressure to produce coke, and which is designed for the combustion of the coke oven gas from which by-products are not recovered. Also known as a heat and/or nonrecovery battery. Nonrecovery coke oven battery refers to units from which heat is recovered from the coke oven gas exhaust as well as units where heat is not recovered. Both heat and/or nonrecovery batteries are connected by common tunnels that typically include afterburners to further reduce organic emissions in the coke oven gas.

Not tall oven battery means a coke oven battery with ovens less than 6 meters (20 feet) in height.

Offtake system means any individual oven apparatus that is stationary and provides a passage for gases from an oven to a coke oven battery collecting main or to another oven. Offtake system components include the standpipe and standpipe caps, goosenecks, stationary jumper pipes, mini-standpipes, and standpipe and gooseneck connections.

Oven means a chamber in the coke oven battery in which coal undergoes destructive distillation to produce coke.

Padup rebuild means a coke oven battery that is a complete reconstruction of an existing coke oven battery on the same site and pad without an increase in the design capacity of the coke plant as of November 15, 1990 (including any capacity qualifying under § 63.304(b)(6), and the capacity of any coke oven battery subject to a construction permit on November 15, 1990, which commenced operation before October 27, 1993. The Administrator may determine that a project is a padup rebuild if it effectively constitutes a replacement of the battery above the pad, even if some portion of the brickwork above the pad is retained.

Pushing, for the purposes of § 63.305, means that the coke oven operation that commences when the pushing ram starts into the oven to push out coke that has completed the coking cycle and ends when the quench car is clear of the coke side shed.

Pushing/charging machine (PCM) means the combined coke oven pushing and charging machine operated on rail tracks to open an oven door, push the finished coke from the open oven, and close the oven door, and to charge the adjacent oven with coal to start the coking cycle. Typically used with horizontal ovens such as those at nonrecovery coke facilities.

Root cause analysis is an assessment conducted through a process of investigation to determine the primary underlying cause and all other contributing causes to an exceedance of an action level set forth in this rule.

Run means the observation of visible emissions from topside port lids, offtake systems, coke oven doors, or the charging of a coke oven that is made in accordance with and is valid under Methods 303 or 303A in appendix A to this part.

Shed means a structure for capturing coke oven emissions on the coke side or pusher side of the coke oven battery, which routes the emissions to a control device or system.

Short coke oven battery means a coke oven battery with ovens less than 6 meters (20 feet) in height. Also called a “not tall” oven battery.

Shutdown means the operation that commences when pushing has occurred on the first oven with the intent of pushing the coke out of all of the ovens in a coke oven battery without adding coal, and ends when all of the ovens of a coke oven battery are empty of coal or coke.

Standpipe cap means an apparatus used to cover the opening in the gooseneck of an offtake system.

Startup means that operation that commences when the coal begins to be added to the first oven of a coke oven battery that either is being started for the first time or that is being restarted and ends when the doors have been adjusted for maximum leak reduction and the collecting main pressure control has been stabilized. Except for the first startup of a coke oven battery, a startup cannot occur unless a shutdown has occurred.

Tall coke oven battery means a coke oven battery with ovens 6 meters (20 feet) or more in height.

Temporary seal means any measure, including but not limited to, application of luting or packing material, to stop a collecting main leak until the leak is repaired.

Topside port lid means a cover, removed during charging or decarbonizing, that is placed over the opening through which coal can be charged into the oven of a by-product coke oven battery.

Waste heat stack at a heat and/or nonrecovery facility means a stack that allows coke oven gas to be vented from the coke oven batteries through common tunnels and into the atmosphere when there are no units available for heat recovery. Common tunnels typically contain afterburners to further reduce organic emissions in coke oven gas.

[58 FR 57911, Oct. 27, 1993, as amended at 65 FR 62215, Oct. 17, 2000; 71 FR 20456, Apr. 20, 2006; 89 FR 55732, July 5, 2024]