Preventing pollution
Best Available Techniques: the background
The EU Directive (96/61 EC) on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) now implemented in member states sets up binding rules for the local authorities to grant environmental permits to process industries, including new and existing petrochemical and chemical installations.
The final permit sets Emission Limit Values (ELVs) that are defined on the basis of the Best Available Techniques (BAT). These BATs result from an exchange of information between the European Commission, member states, industry and NGOs, and they are worked out under the form of BAT Reference Documents (BREFs) prepared by a European IPPC Bureau. The chemical industry contribution to the BREF process consists in preparing and providing the European IPPC Bureau with background information. This information is collected by industry experts who work jointly inside shadow groups. The chemical industry then comments on the input received by the Bureau, and, at a later stage, on the draft issued by the Bureau.
Best Available Techniques and the Cefic Petrochemistry Industry Sector
The BAT reference documents for the chemical industry have been split into six "Families". One of these is the Large Volume Organic Chemicals (LVOC) Family, that deals with the production of basic petrochemical substances.
The structure of the BAT Reference document includes a generic part and illustrative examples called Process BAT Reference documents (Process BREFs). The generic part describes the main unit operations allowing the substances to be manufactured and the emissions to be reduced and the management techniques in use in this sector. The Process BREFs describe processes selected for their importance, and inform on their performance, how to improve them, best available techniques and emerging techniques.
Cefic has essentially based its selection of illustrative examples on the production volumes. Process BREFs treated by Cefic are the following:
- Lower olefins (Steam cracking - ethylene, propylene and butadiene)
- Aromatics (benzene, toluene and xylene)
- Ethane dichloride and vinyl chloride
- Ethylene oxide / Ethylene glycol
- Formaldehyde
- Acrylonitrile
The reference document on Best Available Techniques in the Large Volume Organic Chemistry Industry, including the Cefic Petrochemistry Industry Sector's contribution were adopted in February 2003.
The European Pollutant Emission Register
The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive also provides for a European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) to be set up, gathering the annual emission figures of all the European industrial sites which include an IPPC installation. This register is now under evaluation and will be freely accessible to the public.
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