How to comply with your environmental permit Additional guidance for: Speciality Organic Chemicals Sector (EPR 4.02) Published by: Environment Agency Rio House Waterside Drive, Aztec West Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4UD Tel: 0870 8506506 Email: [email protected] www.environment-agency.gov.uk © Environment Agency All rights reserved. This document may be reproduced with prior permission of the Environment Agency. March 2009 GEHO0BPIV-E-E Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................2 Installations covered .............................................................................................................3 Key issues ............................................................................................................................5 1. Managing your activities ...................................................................................................9 1.1 Environmental performance indicators ...........................................................................9 1.2 Accident management ....................................................................................................9 1.3 Energy efficiency ............................................................................................................9 1.4 Efficient use of raw materials and water .......................................................................10 1.5 Avoidance, recovery and disposal of wastes................................................................11 2. Operations ........................................................................................................................13 2.1 Design of a new process ..............................................................................................13 2.2 Storage and handling of raw materials, products and wastes ......................................15 2.3 Plant systems and equipment.......................................................................................15 2.4 Reaction stage..............................................................................................................18 2.5 Separation stages.........................................................................................................21 2.6 Purification stage ..........................................................................................................24 2.7 Chemical process controls............................................................................................25 2.8 Analysis ........................................................................................................................25 3. Emissions and monitoring ..............................................................................................27 3.1 Point source emissions.................................................................................................27 3.2 Fugitive emissions ........................................................................................................32 3.3 Odour............................................................................................................................35 3.4 Noise and vibration .......................................................................................................36 3.5 Monitoring and reporting of emissions to air and water ................................................37 4. Annexes ............................................................................................................................40 Annex 1- Emission benchmarks .........................................................................................40 Annex 2- Other relevant guidance and abbreviations.........................................................46 Environment Agency How to comply with your environmental permit Speciality organic chemicals sector (EPR4.02) 1 Introduction Introduction In “Getting the basics right – how to costs and benefits. Part 2 of Horizontal comply with your environmental permit” Guidance Note H1 Environmental Risk (GTBR) we described the standards and Assessment (see GTBR Annex 1) gives a measures that we expect businesses to formal method of assessing options which take in order to control the risk of pollution you should use where major decisions are from the most frequent situations in the to be made. waste management and process industries. We will consider the relevance and relative importance of the information to the This sector guidance note (SGN) is one of installation concerned when making a series of additional guidance for Part technical judgments about the installation A(1) activities listed in Schedule 1 of the and when setting conditions in the permit. Environmental Permitting Regulations (the Regulations). We expect you to use the Modern permits describe the objectives (or standards and measures in this note in outcomes) that we want you to achieve. addition to those in GTBR to meet the They do not normally tell you how to objectives in your permit. achieve them. They give you a degree of flexibility. Sometimes, particularly difficult issues arise such as problems with odour or Where a condition requires you to take noise. You may then need to consult the appropriate measures to secure a “horizontal” guidance that gives in depth particular objective, we will expect you to information on particular topics. Annex 1 use, at least, the measures described of GTBR lists these. which are appropriate for meeting the objective. You may have described the The IPPC Directive requires that the Best measures you propose in your application Available Techniques (BAT) are used. or in a relevant management plan but When making an application, explain how further measures will be necessary if the you will comply with each of the indicative objectives are not met. BATs in this sector guidance note. Where indicative BAT is not included, where you The measures set out in this note may not propose to use an alternative measure or all be appropriate for a particular where there is a choice of options you circumstance and you may implement should explain your choice on the basis of equivalent measures that achieve the Environment Agency How to comply with your environmental permit Speciality organic chemicals sector (EPR4.02) 2 Introduction same objective. In cases where the diverse not all relevant activities operating measures are mandatory this is stated. in the UK can be described. The note is not intended to coincide precisely with all the "organic chemical" sections of the In response to the application form Regulations - particularly as large volume question on Operating Techniques, you organic chemical production is covered in should address each of the measures its own EPR guidance note and described as indicative BAT in this note as associated BREF document (see well as the key issues identified in GTBR. References). Unless otherwise specified, the measures This note applies to activities regulated and benchmarks described in this note under the following section of schedule 1 reflect those of the previous Sector of the Regulations: Guidance Note. They will be reviewed in the light of future BREF note revisions. In Section 4.1 - Organic Chemicals, Part the meantime we will take account of A(1) advances in BAT when considering any (a) Producing organic chemicals such as: changes to your process. (i) hydrocarbons (linear or cyclic, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or aromatic) (ii) organic compounds containing oxygen, Installations covered such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, This note mainly covers installations for carboxylic acids, esters, ethers, peroxides, the manufacture of organic chemicals on a phenols, epoxy resins small or medium scale, principally by (iii) organic compounds containing batch operations. It covers the sulphur, such as sulphides, mercaptans, manufacture of fine organic chemicals, the sulphonic acids, sulphonates, sulphates chemical production of explosives, and sulphones and sulphur heterocyclics pharmaceuticals and plant health (iv) organic compounds containing products, the formulation of nitrogen, such as amines, amides, nitrous- pharmaceuticals and plant health , nitro- or azocompounds, nitrates, nitriles, products. It is also intended to cover some nitrogen heterocyclics, cyanates, activities that may be undertaken outside isocyanates, di-isocyanates and of chemical installations – i.e. those diisocyanate prepolymers involving the polymerisation of unsaturated hydrocarbons or vinyl chloride, or the use (v) organic compounds containing of isocyanate-containing materials. phosphorus, such as substituted However, because the sector is very phosphines and phosphate esters Environment Agency How to comply with your environmental permit Speciality organic chemicals sector (EPR4.02) 3 Introduction (vi) organic compounds containing (e) The flame bonding of polyurethane halogens, such as halocarbons, foams or polyurethane elastomers. halogenated aromatic compounds and (f) Recovering: acid halides (i) carbon disulphide (vii) organometallic compounds, such as lead alkyls, Grignard reagents and lithium (ii) pyridine or any substituted pyridine alkyls (g) Recovering or purifying acrylic acid, (viii) plastic materials, such as polymers, substituted acrylic acid or any ester of synthetic fibres and cellulose-based fibres acrylic acid or of substituted acrylic acid. (ix) synthetic rubbers (x) dyes and pigments Section 4.4