Care for the environment
Environmental permit prepared.
In 2008, the environmental department’s main job was the preparation of the new environmental permit. Apart from that, Proviron did many other things in the field of environmental care such as the continued soil remediation. Finally, the environmental figures obviously mirror the company’s activities, but do not always do so as expected …
In 2008, the environmental department worked hard preparing the environmental permit request for the Ostend site. This request consists of, among others, a quantified risk assessment and an environmental impact assessment. Meanwhile, the file is ready and has been declared ‘in conformity’ by the authorities. In February 2009, the permit dossier was submitted to the Province who declared it complete and admissible.
kg chemical waste/tonne end product
Waste treatment
kg COD/tonne end product
On-site sanitation
In earlier days the Ostend site hosted a coke factory, which caused of lot of historic pollution. In 2006, Proviron started sanitation of the soil; in 2008 the on-site sanitation was continued. Concretely, polluted water and air are vacuumed out of the soil and subsequently cleaned on site.
Figures - 1
The number of kilograms of chemical waste per tonne end product increased in 2008 (see chart). This has a lot to do with the many tests in the biodiesel unit, which involved a lot of filter aid that was subsequently removed as chemical waste. Cleaning oil piping, an activity that doesn’t happen every year, also contributed to increased waste removal (see chart internal/external treatment).
Figures - 2
2008 was also characterised by lower production and some units were down at times. This caused repeated start-ups, which in turn brought about extra emissions such as spoiled flushing water and a COD increase (Chemical Oxygen Demand) in kilograms per tonne end product (see chart). In other words: producing less can cause relatively more waste. A comparable ‘perverse’ effect was brought about by lower production in the phthalic anhydride unit. This reduced the steam production of the site since manufacturing phthalic anhydride is an exothermic reaction. Because more steam was needed in the other units, the Ostend site was forced to produce extra steam by burning natural gas, an operation that influenced CO2 emissions negatively.
Dialogue
As a Seveso company, Proviron communicates with several stakeholders on a regular basis. For example, there was an informative meeting about odour nuisance with the neighbourhood council of Zandvoorde. The neighbours of Hemiksem too visit the local production site twice a year. Furthermore, Proviron employees have regular meetings with the Environmental Inspectorate and with the Chemical Risks Department.