Minnesota Administrative Rules

7017.2045 QUALITY ASSURANCE REQUIREMENTS.

Subpart 1.

Witnessing.

A performance test may be witnessed by either the commissioner or an authorized employee or agent of the commissioner or by EPA staff.

Subp. 2.

EPA audit samples.

The owner or operator of the emission facility shall have the testing company conducting the performance test analyze any EPA audit sample issued by EPA or the commissioner in accordance with EPA protocol. If the audit sample is a reusable sample that EPA requires to be returned, the owner or operator of the emission facility shall return the sample as directed by EPA, in good condition and within the time allowed by EPA. The results of the audit shall be included in the test report.

Subp. 3.

Quality assurance.

Any performance test shall meet the minimum requirements for quality assurance, performance standards, and specifications as stated in the reference method or in the alternative or equivalent method. The provisions in items A and B also apply.

A.

All test runs for a given air pollutant shall be completed within a single 24-hour period unless process variables make this impractical or the method requires test runs of three hours or greater, in which case the runs may be conducted on consecutive days provided that the test is conducted according to the provisions of the approved test plan on each day.

B.

Only employees of the testing company may operate source sampling equipment or otherwise be a part of the emission sampling or analysis of air pollutants from the emission facility during a performance test. The owner or operator or employees of the emission facility may not assist in any sampling or any analysis of samples unless authorized within an approved test plan.

Any request to deviate from the requirements of this subpart shall be submitted at least seven working days before the performance test. The commissioner shall reject the results of each test run where deviations from quality assurance or methodology or test plan requirements exceeded those allowed under subpart 4.

Subp. 4.

Deviation from quality assurance, test method, or test plan.

The commissioner shall reject the results of a performance test if there was a deviation from the quality assurance requirements of this part, from the test method, or from the approved test plan unless:

A.

the deviation was approved in writing by the commissioner prior to the test;

B.

the deviation was from the test method and did not adversely affect the precision or scope of the test method under the conditions of the performance test, and the test requirement was not subject to federal regulation;

C.

the deviation was from the test method and was within the guidelines of that method and was necessitated by field conditions; or

D.

the deviation was from the operating conditions required of the emissions unit and was within the range of operating conditions allowed by the applicable requirement or compliance document such that the compliance status of the emission facility can be determined under the test conditions. In this case, the conditions of part 7017.2025 apply.

Subp. 5.

Precision of test methods.

The inherent precision, level of confidence, and bias of any test method approved by the commissioner for use during a performance test shall not be a factor in determining the compliance status of an emission facility. However, the commissioner shall reject any test runs that were not conducted with acceptable accuracy within the limits of the test method and the sampling conditions or if the detection limit of the test method was higher than the applicable emission standard.

If the commissioner determines that the test results are valid under the quality assurance requirements of the method and that the performance test was conducted in accordance with parts 7017.2001 to 7017.7060 and the applicable requirement or compliance document and the test result exceeds the applicable emission limit by any amount, the owner or operator is in violation of that emission limit.

Subp. 6.

Adjustments for detection limit.

The commissioner shall require that the sample volume to be collected be increased above the minimum amount specified in an applicable requirement or compliance document, if necessary to ensure that the amount or concentration of the pollutant collected is greater than the detection limit given by the analytical procedure employed upon the field samples. If the commissioner requires this, the minimum sample volume shall be determined by the following equation:

V =	A	x	100 _	x	100 _	x	1 _
			B		C		D

Where:	V = minimum sample volume to be collected (dscm)
	A = the analytical detection limit in g
	B = percent of the sample required per analytical run
	C = sample recovery (%)
	D = stack emission limit or expected emission rate (g/dscm)

In cases where a performance test for a pollutant yields a result that is less than the detection limit of the method as utilized, the results shall be calculated and reported as less than or equal to that detection limit.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 116.07

History:

18 SR 1412; 23 SR 145

Published Electronically:

November 29, 2007