Reinforced Plastic Composites Production MACT summary

2. What operations of this source category are affected by this rule?

Owner/operators of reinforced plastic composites productions facilities that are located at a major source of HAP emissions are subject to this rule.  This source category is limited to operations in which reinforced or non-reinforced plastic composites or plastic molding compounds are manufactured using thermoset resins and/or gel coats that contain styrene to produce plastic composites. The resins and gel coats in question may contain styrene, either by itself or with a combination of other monomers or solvents. There are a wide variety of operations that use styrene-containing resins to make thermoset plastics.  Such manufacturing operations include manual resin application, mechanical resin application, filament application, gel coat application, compression/injection molding, centrifugal casting, continuous pultrusion, bulk molding compound (BMC) manufacturing, and sheet molding compound (SMC) manufacturing. 

Several ancillary operations that occur in conjunction with the manufacturing operations are also included in the source category.  These ancillary operations include cleaning, mixing, storage of HAP containing material and certain repair operations that take place at the manufacturing facility, such as repairs to parts or products due to defects or damage that occurred during manufacturing or to parts or products that were returned due to defects in the original manufacture or damage in shipment.  No other types of repair operations are included in this source category. 

Reinforced plastic composites operations are not subject to this subpart if they use less that 1.2 tons per year of thermoset resins and gel coats that contain styrene combined. Additionally, research and development facilities as defined under the Clean Air Act are not subject to this rule.