{"operation":"document","citation":"24-0126","title":"Remora Carbon — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2025-01-03","effective_on":null,"summary":"24-0126 response to Remora Carbon concerning 171.1.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-24-0126.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-24-0126.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-24-0126","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2025-01/240126.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety\nAdministration\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE\nWashington, DC 20590\nJanuary 3, 2025\nMr. Paul Gross\nCEO\nRemora Carbon\n13685 Otterson Ct\nLivonia, MI 48150\nReference No. 24-0126\nDear Mr. Gross:\nThis letter is in response to your December 20, 2024, email requesting clarification of the\nHazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) regarding the applicability of\nthe HMR to a new technology your company has developed. In your email, you describe a\ndevice designed to capture carbon dioxide that will be attached to a locomotive. Further, you\nmention that in a previously issued letter of interpretation (LOI; Reference No. 21-0078),\n1\nPHMSA was asked about the application of similar technology to motor vehicles. In your email,\nyou ask whether your carbon capture device is subject to the HMR when installed on a\nlocomotive.\nBased on the information you have provided, the answer is no. Section 171.1(b) and (c) state that\nthe requirements of the HMR apply to each person who offers a hazardous material for\ntransportation in commerce or transports a hazardous material in commerce. It is the opinion of\nthis Office that auxiliary equipment attached to a locomotive with the intent of reducing carbon\nemissions is not considered to be “in commerce.\n” Therefore, the requirements of the HMR are\nnot applicable to your device.\nHowever, please be aware that there may be applicable requirements from other Federal agencies\nsuch as the Federal Railroad Administration, who can be reached at (202) 493-6024, and the\nEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA), who can be reached at (734) 214-4333.\nI hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.\nSincerely,\nSteven Andrews\nActing Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch\nStandards and Rulemaking Division\n1 https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/interp/21-0078\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\n24-0126\nJones, Jessie Jane (PHMSA)\nAndrews\nFrom: Andrews, Steven (PHMSA)\nSent: Friday, December 20, 2024 2:33 PM\nTo: Jones, Jessie Jane (PHMSA)\nCc: Dodd, Alice (PHMSA); Nickels, Matthew (PHMSA)\nSubject: Follow Up Flag: Follow up\nFlag Status: Flagged\nFW: Remora — PHMSA Letter of Interpretation Request\nJessie,\nI forgot alice is out today. Can you flip this email around into a interp for me real quick with a number? Shoot it to me\nand assign it to me in Filemaker.\nThanks!\nSteven\nFrom: Andrews, Steven (PHMSA) <steven.andrews@dot.gov>\nSent: Friday, December 20, 2024 2:02 PM\nTo: Dodd, Alice (PHMSA) <Alice.Dodd@dot.gov>\nCc: Nickels, Matthew (PHMSA) <Matthew.Nickels@dot.gov>\nSubject: Fw: Remora — PHMSA Letter of Interpretation Request\nAlice,\nCan you quickly assign this an interp number and assign it to me? Let me know what the number is or send me the\nincoming with the interp number on it.\nThanks!\nSteven\nFrom: Paul Gross <paul@remoracarbon.com>\nSent: Friday, December 20, 2024 1:59:51 PM\nTo: Andrews, Steven (PHMSA) <steven.andrews@dot.gov>\nCc: clay@lowercasellc.com <clay@lowercasellc.com>\nSubject: Remora — PHMSA Letter of Interpretation Request\nYou don't often get email from paul@remoracarbon.com. Learn why this is important\nCAUTION: This email originated from outside of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Do not click on links\nor open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.\nHi Steven,\nAs Clay Dumas discussed with you, Remora is building a carbon capture system for locomotives. Our carbon capture\nsystem will be packaged on a tender car behind the locomotive, and will attach to the locomotive's exhaust outlet. It will\nfilter carbon dioxide from the locomotive's exhaust and store the captured CO2 in a tank. We are requesting a letter of\ninterpretation to guide our design.\n1\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nThe material being stored is primarily (> 95%) liquid CO2, with small amounts of gaseous N2, O2, and Ar. We will be\nstoring the CO2 in a 20' CO2 ISO container or similar, which will be packaged on the tender car along with the CO2\ncapture system. A 20' ISO container can hold approximately 20 MT of CO2. The CO2 will be compressed to 20 bar and\nrefrigerated to -40 degrees Celsius.\nOur system will also reduce the locomotive's criteria pollutant (e.g. NOx, PM) emissions by 90%, and this reduction will\ntake place ahead of the CO2 capture system.\nI am happy to answer any questions you have and look forward to hearing back from you!\nThanks,\nPaul\n--\nPaul Gross\nCEO, Remora\n415-866-8851\n2","truncated":false,"body_characters":4501}