Combustion plants (engines)
The Ministrial regulation establishments and activities BES (RIA BES) lays down rules for combustion plants of 1 MWth or less, which are fired with standard fuels. The rules concern reducing and measuring air pollution and reducing soil pollution.
On this page:
What is a combustion plant
Combustion plants are not only boilers in which fuel is fired, but also combustion engines. This concerns installations such as emergency power plants, generators, turbines. What is a standard fuel is described in the Establishments and activities Decree BES (IAB BES). Standard fuels are:
- propane gas
- butane gas
- liquid fuels, such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, but also biodiesel that complies with NEN-EN 14214
Prohibitions and conditions
Reducing air pollution
A combustion plant causes air pollution. You can limit this by ensuring proper adjustment of the installation. It is also important that you keep periods of start-up and shutdown of the combustion plant as short as possible. In this way, you prevent the formation of additional contamination.
Your combustion plant must not emit more emissions than the set emission limit value. These are listed below in the table.
| Fuel | Installation | Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in mg/Nm3 | Sulphur dioxide (SO2) in mg/Nm3 | Total substance in mg/Nm3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid | Combustion plant greater than 0.4 MWth | 120 | 200 | 20 |
| Internal combustion engine | 150 | 65 | 20 | |
| Gas turbine | 50 | 75 | 5 | |
| Gas | Combustion plant greater than 0.4 MWth | 140 | - | - |
| Internal combustion engine | 115 | - | - | |
| Gas turbine | 50 | 15 | - |
When there is no emission limit value
In some cases, your combustion plant does not have to comply with the emission limit values.
500 hour control
If your combustion plant is in operation for less than 500 hours per year, no emission limit value apply. To qualify for this exception, you must register monthly the number of hours the combustion plant operates per year. You can do this with an hour counter or a fuel meter.
However, this exception does not apply if you use a diesel engine to generate electricity while the public electricity grid is available and no operational test is carried out.
Direct-fired installations
If you have a combustion plant where the gaseous products of the combustion process are used for the direct heating, drying or treatment of objects or materials. Examples of this are torches and directly fired ovens and dryers.
Measurement and calculation of emission limit values
To check whether the emissions that your combustion plant emits remains below the emission limit values, as the owner of your company, you must have a measurement carried out at least once every 4 years.
The measurement for nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, total dust should be traced back to a specific oxygen content. In this way, emissions can be compared with the emission limit values.
These are:
- 15 % for internal combustion engines or gas turbines
- 3 % in all other cases
In addition, you calculate the emission of nitrogen oxides by expressing the mass concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the mass concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Soil protection
When you fill or empty the combustion plant with a liquid fuel, you should avoid soil contamination. In addition, you must do this above a soil protection facility. This will prevent the soil from being contaminated with the fuel.