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Ei Developing Intelligent P&ID Plug-in to Comply with EPA’s Greenhouse Gases Mandatory Reporting Rule

February 08, 2010

February 8, 2010, Laramie, Wyoming.  Ei is developing an intelligent P&ID plug-in to comply with EPA's Greenhouse Gases Mandatory Reporting Rule (GHG MRR).  The GHG MRR will affect approximately 13,000 facilities nationwide based on an applicability threshold of 25,000 metric tons CO2e.

In December 2009, EPA officially declared greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), as danger compounds to human health and well being rendering them enforceable under the Clean Air Act.  The GHG MRR requires reporting of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, depending on operational sources located at affected facilities.  Emissions data collection and analysis will be required starting in January 2010, for reporting by March 31, 2011.

As part of our development efforts, we have begun to compile an index of regulatory equations in order to gerenate engineering-based compliance calculations.  Additionally, we are working to develop the functionality to be able to integrate intelligent P&IDs with Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS), in order to establish a real-time GHG compliance assessment and reporting system.

The GHG MRR requires that affected facilities quantify total emissions from fugitive components in methane service. Therefore, we have designed the Ei GHG Compliance Module to perform real-time determinations of components in methane service by integrating with LDAR databases to identify subject components.  With this module, intelligent P&ID users can link their drawings to a refinery speciation dataset in order to automatically generate color-coded drawings and GHG fugitive emissions reports based on applicability.

  

Ei Supports GHG MRR Compliance by Providing:

• Automated GHG Emissions Inventory Calculations
• Strategic "Cap and Trade" Evaluations
• Index of GHG MRR Equations to Generate Engineering-Based Calculations
• Integration with CEMS and DCS Systems
• Customizable GHG Compliance Reports based on GHG Monitoring Plan
• On-Demand GHG Emissions Source Inventory and Equipment Lists
• Quality Assurance Plans based on Real-time Data Collection Systems

To learn more about Ei's GHG Module, don't miss Ei at the DIGITAL PLANT Conference 2010 occurring March 1-3, 2010 at the Hilton Americas in Houston, Texas.  Ei has been selected to speak during a panel on "Information Technologies' Role in an Active Regulatory Environment."  Be sure to attend this technical presentation to learn about Ei's patent pending technology, and how it can ultimately streamline GHG MRR compliance processes.

 

Click here for more information regarding the Ei GHG Module

Shane Kling