United States International Trade Commision Rulings And Harmonized Tariff Schedule
faqs.org  Rulings By Number  Rulings By Category  Tariff Numbers
faqs.org > Rulings and Tariffs Home > Rulings By Number > 2004 HQ Rulings > HQ 967225 - HQ 967474 > HQ 967253

Previous Ruling Next Ruling
HQ 967253




September 21, 2004

CLA-2 RR:CR: GC RSD 967253

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO. 7309.00.0090

Port Director
United States Customs and Border Protection 423 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
Attn: Protest Office, Room 236

RE: Request for Further Review of Protest Number 2002-04-100681; Steel-alloy pressure vessels used in chemical reaction processing

Dear Port Director:

This is our decision on Protest Number 2002-04-100681, filed by CDI Engineering Group, Inc., against your decision on the classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of steel-alloy pressure vessels used in chemical reaction processing.

FACTS:

The subject merchandise under consideration consists of five steel-alloy pressure vessels for manufacturing styrene. Dehydrogenating ethylbenzene diluted with steam over catalysts in a system of fixed-bed reactors without loss or gain of heat produces styrene. Alkylizing (introducing alkyl groups into) ethylene and bezene is the process used to produce the ethylbezene. All equipment was imported fully assembled. It has no double walls or double bottoms and none of the vessels have provisions for circulation of heating or cooling fluids.

The primary styrene reactor is a steel alloy pressure vessel with internal cylinders for holding a catalyst. There is no internal mechanical or thermal equipment in the styrene reactor. The styrene reaction takes place inside this storage vessel in the presence of a catalyst without any mechanical energy or thermal input. The process fluid (primarily consisting of water, ethylbenzene and styrene) flows through the vessel’s in/out nozzles by pressure.

The secondary styrene reactor is a steel alloy pressure vessel that also has internal cylinders for holding a catalyst. It has no internal mechanical or thermal equipment. The styrene reaction takes place inside this storage vessel in the presence of a catalyst without any mechanical energy or thermal input. The process fluid (primarily consisting of water, ethylbezne, and styrene) flows through the vessel’s in/out nozzles by pressure.

The third vessel is a reactive guard bed. It is a steel alloy pressure vessel that protects the catalyst in the vessels downstream of this drum from impurities that could harm the catalyst. It has no internal mechanical or thermal equipment. Unlike the other four vessels under consideration, this drum is not used as a part of the reaction process for the manufacture of ethylbezene. It is merely a protective bed needed to remove potential contaminants from the process stream. The process fluid (primarily consisting of ethylene and benzene) flows through the vessel’s in/out nozzles by pressure.

The fourth vessel is the alkylation reactor, which is a steel alloy pressure vessel which houses five beds of catalysts as part of an ethylbezene manufacturing process. The alkylation reactor does not have internal mechanical or thermal equipment. The reaction takes place inside this storage vessel in the presence of a catalyst without any mechanical energy or thermal input. The process fluid (primarily consisting of ethylene and benzene) flows through the vessel’s in/out put nozzles by pressure.

The fifth vessel is known as the transalkylation reactor. It is a steel alloy pressure vessel that holds a single bed of catalyst as part of ethylbenzene manufacturing process. The reaction takes place inside this storage vessel in the presence of a catalyst without any mechanical energy or thermal input. The process fluid flows through the vessel’s in/out nozzles by pressure. This vessel was imported fully assembled, and there are no double walls or double bottoms and no provision for circulation of heating or cooling fluids.

When the pressure vessels were entered, they were classified in subheading 7309.00.00, HTSUS, as tanks, casks, drums, cans, boxes and similar containers for any materialof iron or steel of a capacity not exceeding 300 liter, of a capacity of 50 liter or more. However, the port liquidated the entries in subheading 8419.89.95, HTSUS as other machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes: other: other: other.

ISSUE:

What is the proper classification in the HTSUS for the subject steel-alloy vessels used to manufacture styrene?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is made in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI’s). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs may then be applied.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (EN’s) constitute the official interpretation of the Harmonized System. While not legally binding on the contracting parties, and therefore not dispositive, the EN’s provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the classification of merchandise under the system. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) believes the EN’s should always be consulted. See T.D. 8980, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989).

The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:

7309.00.00 Reservoirs, tanks, vats and similar containers for any material (other than compressed or liquefied gas), of iron or steel, of a capacity exceeding 300 liters, whether or not lined or heat insulated, but not fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment.

8419 Machinery, plant or laboratory equipment, whether or not electrically heated (excluding furnaces, ovens and other equipment of heading 8514), for the treatment of materials by a process involving a change of temperature such as heating, cooking, roasting, distilling, rectifying, sterilizing, pasteurizing, steaming, drying, evaporating, vaporizing, condensing or cooling, other than machinery or plant of a kind used for domestic purposes; instantaneous or storage water heaters, nonelectric; parts thereof:

Other machinery, plant or equipment:

8419.89 Other:

Other:

8419.89.95 Other.

EN 73.09 indicates that containers of heading 7309, HTSUS, “are normally installed as fixtures for storage or manufacturing use, e.g., in factories, chemical works, dye works, gasworks, breweries, distilleries and refineries, and to a smaller extent in houses, shops, etc. This heading covers containers for any material other than compressed or liquefied gas.Containers fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment such as agitators, heating or cooling coils or electrical elements fall in Chapter 84 or 85.”

“The heading also includes containers insulated by means of double walls or double bottoms subject to there being no provision for circulating heating or cooling fluids between the walls. (Containers with such provision are excluded, see heading 84.19.)”

Regarding heading 8419, HTSUS, EN 84.19 indicates that this group covers plant of general use in many industries for the simple treatment of material by heating, boiling, cooking, concentration, evaporation, vaporisation, cooling etc. They include:

(A) Vessels, vats, etc., of various kinds for heating or cooling:

(1) Vessels, vats, etc., for indirect heating or cooling with double walls or bottoms incorporating provision for the circulation of steam, chilled brine or other heating or cooling media. However, double-walled or double-bottomed vessel fall in Section XIV or Section XV, (e.g., heading 73.09) if they do not have such provision for circulating heating or cooling media (e.g., heat-insulated containers) or in heading 84.18 if they incorporate an evaporator of a refrigerating unit (direct cooling).

(2) Single-wall vessels, vats, etc., incorporating provision for direct heating (including heating by perforated steam coils) other than such vessels normally used in the household (heading 73.21, generally). In general, the industrial types are distinguished by their large size and solid construction, or the provision of filters or condensing domes or of mechanical devices such as agitators or tippers.

Such vessels, whether of the single or double-walled typed, are frequently constructed for working under high pressure (e.g,. autoclaves), or at reduced pressures for special purposes, particularly in the chemical and allied industries.

Vessels fitted with mechanical devices but not incorporating means of direct or indirect heating fall in heading 84.79 unless clearly designed as machinery of a type specified in another heading. This group heating vessels includes pasteurisers, sometimes operating at reduced pressure, used to submit food or drink products (milk, butter, wines, beers, etc.) to pre-determined temperatures to eliminate harmful micro-organisms.

(B) Heat exchange units in which a hot fluid (hot gas, steam or hot liquid) and a cold fluid are made to traverse parallel paths, but usually in opposite direction, separated by thin metal walls in such a manner that the one fluid is cooled and the other heated. These units are usually of the three following types viz., in the form of:

(i) Concentric tube systems: one fluid flows in the annular interval, the other in the central tube.

(ii) A tubular system for the one fluid, enclosed in a chamber through which flows the other fluid. or
(iii) Two parallel series of interconnected narrow chambers formed of baffled plates.

In HQ 955063 dated January 27, 1994, CBP considered the classification of chloride trap reactor pressure vessels made of carbon steel, which were used to remove chlorides from a stream of hydrogen gas. The chloride trap reactors were filled with a catalyst that absorbed the chlorides to induce an endothermic reaction (or generate heat). The hydrogen flowed through the reactors in/out nozzles by pressure. In the ruling, we stated that because that merchandise was a container not fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment, classification was precluded in Chapter 84 or 85. Therefore, we determined that in accordance with EN 73.09, the merchandise was classifiable in subheading 7309.00.00, HTSUS, as a container of iron or steel.

As in HQ 955063, in the present case, the five-styrene reactor vessels under consideration are used as housings for chemical reactions. According to the information contained in the protest file, the chemical reactions do not involve a change in the temperature or any mechanical treatment of the material inside the vessels. Significantly, the vessels do not contain internal mechanical or thermal equipment. Consequently, because the subject merchandise are containers not fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment, classification is precluded under Chapter 84 or 85. Based upon EN 73.09, the subject merchandise is classifiable under subheading 7309.00.00, HTSUS, as containers of iron or steel.

HOLDING:

Based on EN 73.09, the reactor vessels under consideration are classified in subheading, 7309.00.0090, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) as Reservoirs, tanks, vats and similar containers for any material (other than compressed or liquefied gas), of iron or steel, of a capacity exceeding 300 liters, whether or not lined or heat insulated, but not fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment at the general, column one, rate which is free. Duty rates are provided for the Protestant’s convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov.

You are instructed to GRANT the protest in full. In accordance with the Protest/Petition Processing Handbook (CIS HB, June 2002, pp. 18 and 21), you are to mail this decision, together with the CBP Form 19, to the protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing of the decision. Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office of Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.cbp.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other methods of public distribution.

Sincerely,


Previous Ruling Next Ruling

See also: