Sierra Offers Flow Meters to Comply with EPA Boiler MACT Regulations

Efficiently Tune Boilers in Refineries, Chemical and Large Manufacturing Plants and Facilities

Sierra offers a complete suite of Boiler MACT compliant thermal, vortex, and ultrasonic flow meters to meet EPA’s Boiler MACT regulations which are designed to limit hazardous air pollutants (HAP) from commercial and industrial boilers and process heaters.  With these Boiler MACT compliant flowmeters, facilities managers can easily “tune” boilers for optimal efficiency and provide required compliance data to the EPA in three key applications: accurate measurement of the air and fuel going into the boiler, the intake feed water flow, and the total steam being produced.

Boiler MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) was originally published in 2011 as a mandate driven by the Clean Air Act,  the rules are Area Source Boiler MACT 40 CFR 63, subpart JJJJJJ for smaller boilers (stores, hotels, apartments, small manufacturers, etc.) and Major Source Boiler MACT, subpart DDDDD for large ones (refineries, chemical and large manufacturing plants, large facilities).

The Boiler MACT standards require end users to report the fuel to their boiler on a monthly basis, which has been readily adopted in most states. The addition to the mandate requires end-users to “tune” new boilers when they first start up and then perform periodic tuning (from one year to five years depending on the boiler type) for optimal boiler efficiency. Any boiler operating at less than 80% efficiency is consider to be wasting energy and most likely adding hazardous air pollutants to the environment and boiler owners are required to fix it.

Sierra’s suite of Boiler MACT compliant flow meters allows end users to manage their energy cost downward and meet EPA Boiler MACT regulations. For fuel flow measurement applications, it’s critical to precisely measure the intake fuel (oil, gas, coal) to the boiler to tune and then optimize for efficiency. Sierra’s economical BoilerTrak thermal mass flow meter, specifically designed to provide precise natural gas measurement for heaters and boilers, is an ideal product to help with monthly fuel reporting and boiler tuning to increase efficiency. For more complex gas mixtures being burned, use QuadraTherm 640i/780i thermal mass flow meters.

In boiler tuning, the feed water flow to the boiler is an important measurement, since you need to measure the efficiency at which the boiler turns this feed water into steam. Our InnovaMass 240i vortex volumetric flow meters are an economical solution for water measurement applications in new boilers, while the InnovaSonic 205i ultrasonic flow meter can be retrofitted easily into existing boilers due to its clamp-on nature. The 210i  portable ultrasonic flow meter is a good analysis tool as well for periodic boiler tuning where fixed measurement devices are not already installed.

Additionally, to determine the efficiency of the boiler, accurate steam measurements are critical. For measuring steam output, the InnovaMass iSeries vortex flow meter in insertion and inline versions are the industry-leading vortex flow meter for steam measurement. With its ability to measure five process variables at the same time simultaneously, and correct for density changes in steam, the InnovaMass vortex flow meter can give an accurate assessment of the efficiency of the boiler and maximize steam productivity.

About Sierra

A global leader in flow measurement and control for over 40 years, Sierra instruments designs and manufactures high performance flow instrumentation for  nearly any gas, liquid and steam application spanning across global industries as diverse as scientific research, oil & gas, energy management, semicon, clean energy, aerospace and biotech to name a few. In everything we do, we challenge the status quo and thrill in doing the “never before possible” to continually push our technologies and solutions to the next level. With over 150 offices in 50 countries, Sierra is uniquely positioned to provide their innovative products and lifetime support for the leading companies of today and the growth enterprises of tomorrow.