Sustainability

Reduce emission

Greenhouse gas emissions are more than 50 percent higher than in 1990, causing long-lasting changes to our climate system, which threatens irreversible consequences if we do not act.

To reduce emissions, industries should use the Best Available Techniques (BAT) within their industry (read more about BAT below). An important aspect of reducing emissions is to understand the sources; How well do you utilize your raw materials and control shortages during manufacturing? Waste of raw materials can end up as emissions to water, air and soil, or it can be recycled. Working systematically to reduce waste and emission will reduce cost and the carbon footprint of the company.

Mapping current situation is a good start. Example of wastewater indicators are COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand), Nitrogen and Phosphorus. These indicators can be used to estimate shortages. Lean Tech has identified wastage of 1.4 million $ / year for a company by mapping emissions.

Lean Tech has also prepared an IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) report for a customer, where all emissions and waste were described and quantified. The company's practice was also compared with BAT (Best Available Techniques).

Monitoring program

The Norwegian Environment Agency requires that Norwegian companies document their emissions to soil, air and water to ensure that they are within the requirements of the permit. In 2010 came a demand from The Norwegian Environment Agency to establish a monitoring program for emissions to air and water.

Lean Tech helps companies develop complete Monitoring program or part of it, like calculation of uncertainties. The monitoring program should focus on achieving the lowest uncertainty for the greatest emissions.

When preparing a monitoring program it's important to consider the normal manufacturing conditions to achieve representative sampling. Seasonality needs to be taken into account, and measurement uncertainty for the analyses must be determined. You can read more about the monitoring program for air emission developed for Allnex.

Reference Documents

The European IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) Bureau has developed Reference Documents; BREFs, describing BAT (Best Available Techniques).

The BREFs are covering the descriptions of a range of industrial processes as well as the techniques, emission levels, applicable alternative processes that can be applied.

The BREF documents are the outputs of an information exchange of the technical group consisting of experts from industry, Member State authorities, research institutes and NGOs. Each BREF is the outcome of a multiple year process involving up to 100 experts.

Lean Tech has compared the customer's operation with the relevant BREF to identify areas of improvement.

Lean Tech has experience with the following BREFs (the list will evolve depending on customer need):

• CWW Bref (Common Wastewater and Waste Gas Treatment/Management Systems in the Chemical Sector)
• EFS BREF (Emission from Storage)
• ENE BREF (Energy Efficiency)

Available BREFs

A complete list of all BREFs can be found at IPPC's webpage. These BREFs are available currently (2022):

 

1. Ceramic Manufacturing Industry
2. Common Waste Gas Treatment in the Chemical Sector
3. Common Wastewater and Waste Gas Treatment/Management Systems in the Chemical Sector
4. Economics and Cross-media Effects
5. Emissions from Storage
6. Energy Efficiency
7. Ferrous Metals Processing Industry
8. Food, Drink and Milk Industries
9. Industrial Cooling Systems
10. Intensive Rearing of Poultry and Pigs
11. Iron and Steel Production
12. Large Combustion Plants
13. Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals – Ammonia, Acids and Fertilizers
14. Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals – Solids and Others Industry
15. Manufacture of Glass
16. Manufacture of Organic Fine Chemicals
17. Monitoring of Emissions to Air and Water from IED Installations
18. Non-ferrous Metals Industries
19. Production of Cement, Lime and Magnesium Oxide
20. Production of Chlor-alkali
21. Production of Large Volume Organic Chemicals
22. Production of Polymers
23. Production of Pulp, Paper and Board
24. Production of Specialty Inorganic Chemicals
25. Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas
26. Slaughterhouses and Animals By-products Industries
27. Smitheries and Foundries Industry
28. Surface Treatment of Metals and Plastics
29. Surface Treatment Using Organic Solvents including Wood and Wood Products
30. Preservation with Chemical Tanning of Hides and Skins
31. Textiles Industry
32. Waste Incineration
33. Waste Treatment
34. Wood-based Panels Production