The Ministry of Industry of Thailand issued a notification ‘Re Factories to Install Special Device or Equipment for Reporting Air Pollution from Factory Chimney B.E. 2565 (2022)’ (the “Notification”), which was published in the Ministerial Information Bulletin No. 10853 of 27th September 2022. The aim of the Notification is to monitor and reduce the air pollution of factories, which will lead to sustainable spatial planning. This Notification will be enforced after the lapse of one year from the day following the date of its publication in the Government Gazette.
Definitions
“chimney” means a chimney or a pipe or a channel the purpose of which is to release air pollution.
“special device or equipment” means continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) which consists of sampling interface/sampling delivery system, analyzer, and data acquisition system, which must be any of the following systems:
(1) Extractive system.
(2) In-Situ system.
(3) Other systems prescribed by the Department of Industrial Works.
“reporting” means a sending of data from special device or equipment to the computer network system of the Department of Industrial Works.
“closed system” means a fuel and/or raw material combustion system designed to control air volume and combustion environment.
“open system” means a fuel and/or raw material combustion system which is not designed to control air volume and combustion environment.
“predictive emission monitoring system (PEMS)” means a prediction of air pollution release by making assessment basing on the result of measurement of parameters related to the production, as prescribed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).
“waste fuel” means a fuel arisen from using any one or several of the following articles as fuel, and it shall mean to include fuel arisen from conversion or improvement of quality of any one or several of the following articles so that it is suitable to be used as fuel:
(1) refuse or unusable material under the law governing factory;
(2) waste under the law governing public health;
(3) waste under the law governing enhancement and conservation of national environmental quality;
(4) any materials other than (1), (2), or (3) which are not wanted or cannot be used according to their original objectives.
Scope of the Notification
By virtue of Article 16 ter of the Ministerial Regulations No. 2 issued under Factory Act B.E. 2535 (1992) and subsequent amendments thereof, the Notification repeals:
(1) Notification of Ministry of Industry Re Various Categories of Factories to Install Automatic Special Device or Equipment for Examining Air Quality from Chimneys B.E. 2544 (2001);
(2) Notification of Ministry of Industry Re Sending of Data to Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) B.E. 2550 (2007).
The Notification does not apply to the following factories or reserve production units:
(1) Factories with production units with devices that reduce or control the amount of pollution in the production process. The result of such measurement of released pollution in the chimneys is not less than 10 data, each of which must not exceed 10% of said pollution standard value for at least two consecutive years. The Department of Industrial Works must be notified.
(2) Factories that are granted permission prior to the enforcement date of this Notification, which have air sampling points from existing chimneys. The Department of Industrial Works must evaluate and approve the measurement of particulates and the flow rate in the chimneys.
(3) Reserve production units of factories with production period not exceeding sixty days per year.
All the factories that are required to install a device to measure pollution, must do so before commencement of factory business operation or commencement of expanded factory business operation, as the case may be. The reporting of the pollution measurement result must be done according to the following bases:
(1) If there is no fuel combustion, the pollution value in the polluted air value must be reported at 1 standard atmospheric pressure or 760 milliliters of mercury at the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius at dry basis, with oxygen volume in the polluted air at real time of measurement.
(2) If there is fuel combustion:
(a) For closed systems, the pollution value in the polluted air shall be reported at 1 standard atmospheric pressure or 760 milliliters of mercury at the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius at dry basis, with excess air at 50% or with oxygen volume in the polluted air at 7%.
(b) For open systems, the pollution value in the polluted air shall be reported at 1 standard atmospheric pressure or 760 milliliters of mercury at the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius at dry basis, with oxygen volume in the polluted air at real time of measurement.
The following schedule outlines the Value of Special Device or Equipment Subjected to Measurement per unit, size, and category of factory:
