Subpart AA consists of facilities that manufacture pulp using chemical pulping processes, including integrated mills that produce virgin pulp for use in on-site paper making and non-integrated mills that produce only market pulp.

This page provides an overview of subtopics that are central to Subpart AA reporting:

• Subpart AA Summary Information for this Facility
• Subpart AA Makeup Chemical Usage Information
• Subpart AA Process Unit Information
• Subpart AA Emissions Information
• Subpart AA Validation Report

The end of the page contains links you can use for more information on these topics.

Subpart AA Summary Information for this Facility

Subpart AA requires you to report the following data about your facility:

• The annual steam purchases (pounds)
• The annual production of unbleached virgin chemical pulp products (air-dried metric tons).  You may enter zero only if no virgin chemical pulp was produced and you are reporting zero emissions under Subpart AA. [98.276(k)]

Please note that Subpart AA required you to report the annual production of paper products (metric tons) in Reporting Years 2010, 2011, and 2012.  You will not be required to report the annual production of paper products for Reporting Year 2013 and onward. 

Subpart AA Makeup Chemical Usage Information

For Makeup Chemical Usage within your facility, Subpart AA requires you to report the following data:

• A unique name or identifier, plus optional description for this unit. See also About Unique Unit Names

Subpart AA Process Unit Information

For each process unit at your facility, the following unit information is required:

• A unique name or identifier, plus optional description for this unit. See also About Unique Unit Names.
• The type of unit, selected from the following:
  • Pulp mill lime kiln
  • Chemical recovery furnace
  • Chemical recovery combustion unit
• An indication of whether the unit is monitored by Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS)

Subpart AA Emissions Information

The required emissions information and the manner by which required emissions information is entered into e-GGRT is different for makeup chemical usage, process units that are monitored by a CEMS, and process units that are NOT monitored by a CEMS.

As a result, separate help content has been created in this subpart for entering emissions information for makeup chemical usage, process units monitored by CEMS and process units NOT monitored by CEMS.

For makeup chemical usage, the following emissions information is required:

• The annual CO₂ process emissions calculated by IVT, which will require the following inputs for Equation AA-3:
  • Make-up quantity of CaCO₃ used for the resporting year (metric tons/year)
  • Make-up quantity of Na₂CO₃ used for the resporting year (metric tons/year)

• An indication of whether a substitute value was used for CaCO₃
• An indication of whether a substitute value was used for Na₂CO₃

For each chemical recovery furnace that is NOT monitored by CEMS at your facility, the following emissions information is required:

• The annual biogenic CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O process emissions calculated by IVT, which will require the following inputs for Equation AA-1:
  • Mass of spend liquor solids combusted in short tons in the reporting year, determined according to §98.274(b)
  • Annual high heat value of the spent liquor solids determined according to §98.274(b) (mmBtu/kilogram)
  • Default emission factor for CO₂ from Table AA-1
• The basis for annual mass of spent liquor solids, selected from the following:
  • TAPPI method
  • On-line metering/measuring system
• An indication of whether a substitute value was used for annual mass of spent liquor solids
• The total annual mass emissions of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O from fossil fuel calculated by IVT, which requires entry of various equation inputs depending on the methodology selected
• Calculation methodology start date and end date, for each fuel type
• Calculation methodology used for the emissions calculation period specified, for each fuel type:
• Tier 1/Equation C-1: Annual fuel combusted, default heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 1/Equation C-1a: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (therms) and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 1/Equation C-1b: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (mmBtu) and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 2/Equation C-2a: Annual fuel combusted, measured heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 2/Equation C-2c: Steam generation, ratio of maximum rated heat input capacity to design rated steam output capacity, and default CO₂ emission factor (for MSW and solid fuels listed in Table C-1))
• Tier 3/Equation C-3: Annual mass of solid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the solid fuel
• Tier 3/Equation C-4: Annual mass of liquid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the liquid fuel
• Tier 3/Equation C-5: Annual volume of gaseous fuel combusted, average carbon content of the gaseous fuel, and average molecular weight of the gaseous fuel

For each chemical recovery combustion unit that is NOT monitored by CEMS at your facility, the following emissions information is required:

• The annual biogenic CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O process emissions, calculated by IVT, which will require the following inputs for Equations AA-1 and AA-2:
  • Annual carbon content of the spent liquor solids, determined according to §98.274(b) (percent by weight, expressed as a decimal fraction)
  • Mass of spend liquor solids combusted in short tons in the reporting year, determined according to §98.274(b)
  • Annual high heat value of the spent liquor solids determined according to §98.274(b) (mmBtu/kilogram)
• The basis for annual mass of spent liquor solids, selected from the following:
  • TAPPI method
  • On-line metering/measuring system
• An indication of whether a substitute value was used for annual mass of spent liquor solids
• The total annual mass emissions of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O from fossil fuel, calculated by IVT, which requires entry of various equation inputs depending on the methodology selected
• Calculation methodology start date and end date, for each fuel type
• Calculation methodology used for the emissions calculation period specified, for each fuel type:
• Tier 1/Equation C-1: Annual fuel combusted, default heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 1/Equation C-1a: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (therms) and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 1/Equation C-1b: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (mmBtu) and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 2/Equation C-2a: Annual fuel combusted, measured heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
• Tier 2/Equation C-2c: Steam generation, ratio of maximum rated heat input capacity to design rated steam output capacity, and default CO₂ emission factor (for MSW and solid fuels listed in Table C-1)
• Tier 3/Equation C-3: Annual mass of solid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the solid fuel
• Tier 3/Equation C-4: Annual mass of liquid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the liquid fuel
• Tier 3/Equation C-5: Annual volume of gaseous fuel combusted, average carbon content of the gaseous fuel, and average molecular weight of the gaseous fuel

For each pulp mill lime kiln that is NOT monitored by CEMS at your facility, the following emissions information is required:

• The total annual mass emissions of CO₂ , CH₄ and N₂O, calculated with IVT, which requires entry of various equation inputs depending on the methodology selected
• Calculation methodology start date and end date, for each fuel type
• Calculation methodology used for the emissions calculation period specified, for each fuel type:
  • Tier 1/Equation C-1: Annual fuel combusted, default heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
  • Tier 1/Equation C-1a: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (therms) and default CO₂ emission factor
  • Tier 1/Equation C-1b: Annual natural gas usage from billing records (mmBtu) and default CO₂ emission factor
  • Tier 2/Equation C-2a: Annual fuel combusted, measured heating value, and default CO₂ emission factor
  • Tier 2/Equation C-2c: Steam generation, ratio of maximum rated heat input capacity to design rated steam output capacity, and default CO₂ emission factor (for MSW and solid fuels listed in Table C-1)
  • Tier 3/Equation C-3: Annual mass of solid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the solid fuel
  • Tier 3/Equation C-4: Annual mass of liquid fuel combusted and average carbon content of the liquid fuel
  • Tier 3/Equation C-5: Annual volume of gaseous fuel combusted, average carbon content of the gaseous fuel, and average molecular weight of the gaseous fuel
• The quantity of calcium oxide (CaO) produced (metric tons)
• The percent of annual heat input, individually for each fossil fuel type

For each CEMS Monitoring Location, provide the following information:

• A unique unit name or identifier for the CML (see also About Unique Unit Names)
• An optional description or label for the CML
• The configuration of processes or process units that are monitored by the CML that may include:
  • Single industrial process or process unit that exhausts to a dedicated stack
  • Multiple industrial processes or process units share a common stack
  • Industrial process or process unit shares a common stack with one or more stationary fuel combustion units
• The name of each fuel combusted in the unit(s) monitored by the CEMS
• The Tier 4/CEMS methodology start and end dates
• The cumulative total of hourly CO₂ mass emissions for each quarter of the reporting year (in metric tons) (Do not cumulate emissions data between quarters)
• The total annual CO₂ mass emissions measured by the CEMS (in metric tons)
• An indication whether emissions reported for the CEMS include emissions calculated according to 98.33(a)(4)(viii) for a slipstream that bypassed the CEMS
• The total annual biogenic CO₂ emissions from the combustion of all biomass fuels combined (in metric tons) (if applicable)
• The total annual non-biogenic CO₂ emissions (includes fossil fuel, sorbent, and process CO₂ emissions, in metric tons)
• The total annual CH₄ and N₂O emissions associated with the combustion of all Table C-2 fuels combusted in all processes/process units monitored by the CEMS derived from application of Equation C-10 (in metric tons) (if there are no combustion emissions in this CML, please enter zero)
• The total number of source operating hours in the reporting year
• The total operating hours in which a substitute data value was used in the emissions calculations for the CO₂ concentration parameter
• The total operating hours in which a substitute data value was used in the emissions calculations for the stack gas flow rate parameter
• If moisture correction is required and a continuous moisture monitor is used, the total operating hours in which a substitute data value was used in the emissions calculations for the stack gas moisture content parameter
• An indication of the process units monitored by the CML

Subpart AA Validation Report

The Validation Report assists you with determining the completeness and quality of your reported data.

We strongly encourage you to use the Validation Report to check your work. The Validation Report performs two types of checks:

• Data Completeness: Data required for reporting that are missing or incomplete.
• Data Quality: Data that are outside of the expected range of values.

Certain validation checks which are considered to represent critical errors must be corrected before you can successfully generate and submit your Annual Report. These checks are signified with a stop sign . If you feel that you have triggered one of these critical “stop signs” checks in error, or if there’s a reason why your report should be submitted despite the check being triggered, please submit a request to the e-GGRT Help Desk at GHGReporting@epa.gov.

You may view the Validation Report at any time.

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See Also

Screen Errors
Using e-GGRT to Prepare Your Subpart AA Report for RY2014 and Later
Using e-GGRT to Prepare Your Subpart AA Report for RY2014 and Later
Using e-GGRT to Prepare Your Subpart AA Report for RY2014 and Later
Subpart AA Process Unit Information for Units NOT Monitored by CEMS for All Reporting Years
Subpart AA Process Unit Information for Units Monitored by CEMS for All Reporting Years
Subpart AA Emissions Information for Makeup Chemical Usage for RY2014 and Later
Subpart AA Emissions Information for Units NOT Monitored CEMS for RY2014 and Later
Entering Emissions Information for Chemical Recovery Furnaces Using IVT
Entering Emissions Information for Chemical Recovery Combustion Units Using IVT
Entering Fuel-Specific Emissions Using IVT
Subpart AA Emissions Information for Units Monitored by CEMS for All Reporting Years
Subpart Validation Report