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Show Historically, N O x has been regulated using the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for N 0 2 . Only parts of the Los Angeles area are in "non-attainment" and do not meet the N 0 2 N A A Q S . "New sources" in N O x non-attainment areas must use emission offsets and a tight level of control known as "lowest achievable emission rate", LAER. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is generally designated as LAER. S C R has high capital and operating costs and is energy intensive. A 9 ppm target is usually established. Offsets must also be used. CAAA control requirements for ozone apply to over 100 ozone non-attainment areas which do not meet the ozone health standard and to "ozone transport regions" which may meet the standard but into which ozone can migrate. One such region which extends from Maine to Virginia is now designated. In practice, much of industrial America is non-attainment for ozone: the Great Lakes states, the Gulf Coast, California as well as the Northeast. New sources in some ozone non-attainment areas will be subject to the same requirements to meet L A E R as the Los Angeles area. Thus, offsets and 9 ppm NOx emissions will be required. Further, the C A A A will affect smaller sources than previous regulations and consequently will impact directly industrial-scale furnaces and boilers. Of course, industry could opt for S C R systems. But, because of the high cost of S C R systems, very low emitting combustion equipment which does not generate typical pollution levels could be expected to capture the lion's share of this market. If available at a truly competitive cost, very low emission combustion equipment could be used even where it is not required. It is these markets that DOE's Industrial Combustion Equipment Program is targeting. Sandia National Laboratories serves in an advisory capacity to DOE's Industrial Combustion Equipment Program. In fulfillment of this role, Sandia assembled a Working Group whose members were drawn from burner, boiler and instrumentation manufacturers, combustion consultants, the Gas Research Institute, select users of combustion equipment and university professors. End users were further represented since most Working Group members had extensive customer contact and as such were aware of the combustion equipment needs and concerns of American industry. Working Group members agreed that a high priority need is for the development and demonstration of very low emission combustion equipment to enable industry to meet emissions targets in a cost effective manner. They recommended further that when a solicitation is issued in this area, that D O E propose no specific projects, leaving project selection up to the respondents. This way, the Working Group thought, more industry-relevant combustion equipment would be developed. This w a s very agreeable to D O E since it was felt that this approach would facilitate industry adoption of the equipment developed. 3 I-2 |