EPA Removes EGBE From Hazardous List

06 December 2004 00:01  [Source: ICB Americas]

In response to a petition by the chemical industry, one solvent has been removed from the federal list of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), and five other chemicals have been reclassified as posing less risk than previously thought.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the move will “create incentives for industry to use solvents that are less toxic and may help decrease the formation of ground level ozone or smog.”

Reclassifying the chemicals, the EPA adds, will not compromise public health and may even benefit public health if they replace more toxic or environmentally damaging substances.

The solvent ethylene glycol mono-butyl ether (EGBE) has been removed from the list of air toxics, and t-butyl acetate (TBAC) and four other chemicals have been exempted from control as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

EGBE is thus no longer subject to the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), residual risk and other specific requirements found in the Clean Air Act.

Like most solvents, EGBE will continue to be regulated as a VOC.

Delisting an air toxic is a lengthy process, involving independent scientific peer review, to demonstrate that there are adequate data to determine that emissions may not reasonably be anticipated to cause adverse effects. EPA last delisted an air toxic—caprolactam—in 1996.

Exempting a VOC requires demonstrating that the compound is negligibly reactive, meaning that the compound forms less ground-level ozone than ethane. EPA has exempted 48 VOCs since 1977.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) petitioned the agency to delist EGBE in 1997. After reviewing the levels of EGBE in the air and the health and environmental impacts associated with those levels, EPA concluded that potential outdoor exposures to the solvent may not reasonably be anticipated to cause human health or environmental problems.

Although EGBE emissions will likely increase, EPA says the delisting creates incentives for industry to use EGBE instead of more toxic solvents. Firms must still report EGBE under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

Lyondell Chemical (formerly Arco Chemical) asked EPA in 1997 to consider excluding TBAC from the VOC definition. The agency determined that TBAC meets the criteria used to define a compound as “negligibly reactive.”

“Exclusion of this compound as a VOC will help states focus on controlling emissions of those pollutants that are demonstrated to be ozone precursors,” the agency says. “In addition, a number of manufacturers of paints, inks, and adhesives have indicated that if TBAC were excluded from regulation as a VOC, they would use it in their products in place of other compounds that are as much as 20 to 30 times more likely to form ground-level ozone, or smog.”

Such substitutions will help decrease ground-level ozone formation, generating public health benefits, according to EPA.

Lyondell Chemical says TBAC, an organic solvent, is expected to find widespread use in coatings, inks, adhesives, industrial cleaners, photo-resist strippers and other formulated products as a result of the exemption.

According to Gail Kelly, Lyondell Chemical business development manager, many TBAC-based formulations have been developed in anticipation of the exemption. “The solvent’s broad utility and potential regulatory status have created an enormous amount of industry interest,” she says. “We expect to see commercial applications for TBAC almost immediately.”

With the exemption, the chemical can be substituted for more reactive solvents. Lyondell Chemical is the only large-scale global manufacturer and marketer of TBAC. Current production capacity exceeds 50 million pounds per year, and the company says significant capacity additions are available as market demand increases.

EPA is also excluding HFE-7000, HFE-7500, HFC 227ea and methyl formate from control as VOCs. These compounds “contribute little or nothing to ground-level ozone formation,” says the agency, which adds that all four are environmentally preferable substitutes for ozone-depleting CFCs and HCFCs.

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